The author of the book presented a copy of the book to me herself this morning. The story was, of course, hers. Each page illustration was also by her. (available in Amazon in paperback and Kindle). Here is the twist… the author is Trisha Rao – a 9 year old kid (she authored the book when she was 8 year old) from India. She is the daughter to two of my dearest friends and old colleagues – Rajesh and Sumana.
I knew the day was going to be great when Sumana had written to me from India that they were going to be in Atlanta for a couple of days and she would like to meet up and put in a run with me. You see, Rajesh and Sumana were my colleagues from the first start up company I had worked in. That goes back way too many years. Our professional paths separated but we have kept up the personal relationships. In fact, Sharmila and I visited their house in San Diego twelve years back and I had a breakfast with Rajesh around 2010 during one of those business trips. Then they moved to India.
Early in the morning, Sumana and I hit the road for a few miles. I have always admired her for how she grew from the back office side of the business to the sales side. Those are journeys that many have fallen on the wayside of. Caught up during the run with her family in India, the transition to India and so many other details about her that I always wanted to know,
And after the run, came the breakfast. That is when I met Trisha for the first time in my life and Rajesh after about six years. What was most inspiring was hearing Rajesh’s life journey – his physically challenged dad and his sister who I can relate to a lot more now since my mom is in a similar state. And how they all moved back to India to take care of their parents and family. And like everybody, they are getting to a point where they have to balance out the previous generation with the next generation. They probably will have to move back to US soon to ensure Trisha gets a great education. We had a great time exchanging notes on his sabbatical and the ones that I had had. To cap it off, Rajesh has taken to running too!
If there was a breakfast that I never wanted to end, it had to be this one. To quote Sumana – “Our passion for running is exceeded only by our zest for life”!!

This week, as you saw from my previous posts, I was in Sheboygan for a few days for our partners’ meet. On Monday evening – the night before the event was to start – I found myself with Julio thinking about what to do about dinner. The resort we were in was beautiful but eating there meant I was going to be interrupted all the time by the guests. Speaking of going out, this was Sheboygan we were talking about. Not too many choices.

Suddenly, I remembered about Blind Horse. Remember Yui – the girl who threw a dart in Japan and landed up in Kenosha? (Search for “Kenosha” in www.rajibroy.com). Well, I knew she did not work there any more but it was nevertheless a great place to eat. So Julio and I went for a fifteen minute drive to get to that place.

We were the only guests there. This was pretty late and of course, this was Sheboygan we were talking about. We sat at the bar to have dinner. I started telling Julio the story of Yui when our bartender overheard me and let us know that she had met Yui once when she joined the place.

After some chit chat between Julio and myself, I figured it would be good to know the new person too.

“What is your name?”
“Paula.”
One of the common ways for me to start a conversation for me is to find out where the person is from.
“That dark hair, you have… you are not from this part of the country are you? What is your lineage?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
For a moment I was wondering if she was trying to brush off an unwelcome intruder in her private life? No. She stood there smiling at us waiting for the next question!! (Actually, she is one of the most cheerful persons I have ever seen. Very witty, very smart and always smiling).

But it turns out Paula has very little idea about her biological parents. She was found in Milwaukee as a baby and then eventually adopted by a couple in Wisconsin. As you probably know by now, I think the world of parents that adopt.

“Tell me about your adoptive parents”.
I found out that they are as wonderful as I was thinking they would be. After adopting Paula, they adopted another child – her brother who is three years younger to her. He, as it turns out, is married to a lady who herself is adopted!! You want to guess from which country? India!!!

By now, Julio was into the conversation as much as I was. We were really intrigued by her life story. She has a daughter of 9 years. And she is a single mom.

That has to be a lot of hard work, I figured.
“How many jobs do you have?”
“Two”.

“Okay. Tell me what do you want to be when you grow up?”
She laughed at the concept that she has not grown up yet. But I was inspired by her answer. She wanted to go back to college and finish it. Apparently, she worked to earn thru her high school, went to college but dropped out after one year. Now she is waiting for her daughter to grow up a little and then she wants to go back to college.

“When you have a lot of money, what would you do with it?”, I asked her.
“Visit places.”
And it is then that she told us something – she has never been on a plane!! Of course, she is telling this to somebody who is on a plane literally every other day and is in a company that owns and flies planes!!!

Once again, I realized how lucky in life I have been.

But you always want the other person to have lots of luck too. So, here it is to you – Paula – go back to that college, get a degree and hopefully someday you will fly planes and see places that you have always wanted to see.

What do you know? Maybe Julio and I will hitch a hike in your plane!!!

For the rest of you, if you are in Wisconsin anytime and is in the mood for a mean Sazerac or a Manhattan, look up Paula Habeck at the Blind Horse.