We had originally thought of riding to Woodstock but the sharp showers put paid to all our plans. Instead, we just drove up to Halcyon and settled on the rooftop bar at Hobnob. The evening weather started a bit oppressive but quickly cooled down and turned out to be very pleasant.
Some great discussions with Avi – from politics to factfulness to social media to treasured memories from childhood!
The idea was to go to one of the coffee houses with Wifi and get some work done. And in the same stroke, get some motorbiking done too. To that end, quickly consulted Google maps and located a cafe in Keithsburg, GA. That would imply that I got to see another small Georgia town and get my work done while enjoying a ride to and fro.
Well, turns out it was not that smart an idea to look for “Cafe” in Google Maps. This cafe turned out to be a small breakfast and lunch place. Not exactly what I had in mind.
Fortunately, Keithsburg was not too far from Ballground. Ergo, quickly rode to Barrel Coffee House and finished up my work there. As luck would have it, I ran into my old friend Adam Miller there!
While riding back, suddenly the rains started and I got immediately soaked. But, it was one of those localized showers (very common in this part of Georgia). In about 4 minutes, I was in bright sunshine. Took a circuitous route back so as to hit the highway. The high speed and sunlight had me completely dried up when I pulled up to our garage!
We had settled down for lunch with our friends after docking the boat in Fish Tales. Suddenly, Sharmila thought she spotted something. Or rather, somebody.
“Isn’t that Antara?” she asked.
I had watched the kid playing in the sand but had not noticed his parents. After Sharmila pointed out, I realized that the kid’s mom was none other than Antara. It took me a second to recognize her behind her shades. Went down to meet them and then Milind (he was trying to get a table for his family) came by too.
Back at our table, explaining how I knew Antara was bit of an interesting moment. Antara, you see, grew up in the same house as I did in Durgapur! After we left that house and moved to a new one, her parents had moved in to what used to be our house.
Later I had found out that my mom was her teacher in primary school and that at some point of time, my brother was her sister’s math tutor! By the way, I had never met Antara when I was in India!
And we ran into each other on Lake Lanier at Fish Tales!
“So, do you remember me?”, I asked the young kid. (He had seen me a couple of times before)
“Yes. Red-motorcyle uncle!”
It so reminded me of my Durgapur days. When we would often refer to uncles by their vehicle make or color – “Rajdoot motorcycle kaku” or “Sobuj Lambretta kaku” !!!
Well, (other than “Rajib”) I have often been called “Raj” or “Roy” or sometimes even “Hey You!”. Now I have a new sobriquet!
I kinda like it.
It is a pity my motorbike is red no more!
