15 May
2015
15 May
2015
That was a unique Happy Birthday call ! To my mom! No less!!
Like every morning, when I got into my car heading to a meeting, I started making my birthday calls. Usually I finish off Asia and Europe in the morning and the Americas in the evening or during lunch time.
First, I called up home in India. My dad picked up. After talking to him for a few minutes I asked “Is it not mom’s birthday today?”. He was totally flummoxed. “Tor maa-er jonmodin aaj?”. (‘It is your mom’s birthday today?’).
Now, my friends from India can relate to this. There was no real system of birthday records when my parents were born (or for that matter when I was born). Most people would get an official certificate later in their lives (especially when they needed a job 🙂 ) with a convenient birthday for themselves! The concept of celebrating birthdays – at least for my parents – is totally foreign. Last time I had gone home, I had noted down their “official birthday” from their ID cards.
Which is what led to the call today. To get back to my story, when I confirmed that it is indeed my mom’s birthday today, his next question was “Mrityudin eto kaachhe choley esechhe, ekhon jonmodin niye ki hobey”? (‘Now that we are so close to the day we will die, what is the big idea celebrating our birthdays?’). Exasperated, I asked him where mom was.
Next, I called up my sister downstairs – for that is where mom evidently was. Once she gave the phone to my mom, I asked “Aaj tomar jonmodin to?” (‘Today is your birthday, right?’). You could sense the utter confusion in her mind. I could hear her asking my sister “Aajkey amar jonmodin?” (‘Today is my birthday?)’. Of course, my sister’s reaction was – how the heck was she supposed to know? In her defense, she was nowhere near when my mom was born 🙂
With little regard to thanking me for wishing her, my mom’s first reaction was “Aaj ki bishey Josthhi?”. She switched to the Bengali calendar (which is completely different from the Gregorian calendar). Of course, it was my turn to go – how the heck am I supposed to know that? After I pointed out that I got her birthday from her ID card, my mom told me that is her “official birthday”.
“Okay, so what is your real birthday?”, I asked (in Bengali of course). “Bishey Josthhi”, she continued to insist. “I got that part. Which Bengali year?”. More confusion ensued. After a couple of minutes of mutterings, what I could reconstruct is that she was born two years after her elder sister was. And her elder sister was born the year there was a big flood in Kalna!! Go figure!!! At this point, I had no idea whether I was making forward progress or regressing.
Internet had nothing on floods in Kalna during the 40s. Fortunately, there is a site that will change Bengali date to the English calendar. I tried five years on either side of her “official birthday” with that “Bishey Josthhi”. I had one other data point. My grandfather had once told me which day of the week my mom was born in – because it matched the day of the week I was born in and he had told me people that are born on that day of the week have to work very hard in their lives. That datapoint narrowed it down to exactly one year. I had cracked it!!
Of course, I called my mom again. “Which day of the week were you born in?”. I enquired to double check. “Saturday”, she confirmed something I was already aware of. “Well, then hear me out now. Your real birthday is Jun 3rd, 1944”. Do not forget that.
She gave it some consideration and said “Ok. But let’s celebrate May 15 since that is the official date”. And I was like “You are telling that now??????? Could you not have just thanked me when I wished you earlier??????” 🙂
My mom. I tell you. 🙂 🙂
15 May
2015
From the bartender’s corner – Yellow Strawberry
14 May
2015
Remember that lady who let the tip of a dart dictate the course of her life?
Last year this time, if you recollect I had gone to a restaurant with my friend Dan and then made friends with the manager of that place – Yui – who was from Japan and landed up in Kenosha, Wisconsin because of a dart she threw on an US map and that is where it landed. In a final twist to the story, we found out that Dan was actually stationed near the small place she was from back in Japan when he was in the Marines. You can read about it here
In any case, this week, I had a dinner with a Board member and we went to the same place. That gave me a chance to catch up on Yui a year later. Pat (the Board member) was excited about the whole story. So we took a picture of the three of us with the biggest wine bottles we could find around 🙂 (Last year, Dan had taken a picture with a big wine bottle in hand. Do not remember why.)
Anyways, it was good to catch up with somebody who I made friends with on the road. I understand now she is following a modeling career too. Maybe someday I can say I personally know somebody famous 🙂
13 May
2015
Sometimes you have to choose between an old friend and a flight
By the time I walked out of the investment bank after a very successful and exciting – and way over time – meeting analyzing our market and opportunities, I was literally swimming in numbers. I glanced at my watch. I still had time to squeeze in meeting a very old friend of mine before I scrambled to my flight home.
Or that is what I thought. What I had not bargained for is Chicago’s highways becoming a parking lot at 3 PM. Or that my friend and I would be waiting at identically named stores but a full fifteen minutes apart!! (This is what happens when you punch in the cafe name only without the address in Google Maps!!).
At that point, I was getting way too close for my comfort to not head out to the airport. But then again, I had not seen this guy for 26 years!! Last time I saw him was on the corridors of Alakananda – our hostel (dorm) during my Engineering days – back in May 1989!!
I decided that I would risk my flight. Found a bar from Google Maps somewhere between where we were and met up with Ramana Kadari!! I could have picked him from a vast sea of humanity any day. It is like time has wrought no change on his visage. Exactly the same guy – the looks, the temperament, the outlook – everything has remained the same!!
It was fantastic catching up on his fascinating journey of the last 26 years. I absolutely wish I had kept in touch with this guy. I always have a lot to learn from anybody who loses his dad in his ninth grade, grows up in the rural hinterland of India and yet fights his way to some of the top schools in India and now so successful in one of the best countries in the world!!
It was all of 35 minutes of meeting but boy did it feel like we had left each other just the other day. I still remember the day he won the T-shirt caption contest for our hostel (his entry was “Smart Alec” – a pun on our hostel name) and I kept kicking myself for not coming up with it myself!!
As we bade adieu promising not to wait for another 26 years, it slowly dawned on me that I have a flight to catch. I stuck with the back roads instead of the highways, weaved thru traffic like I was driving east west on a north south street, considered speed limits as FYIs only and I am sure the ensuing Doppler effect made some red lights appear green to me. Somehow made it to the rental car center, left the keys without waiting for my bill and ran to the bus. Later, in the bus, I realized that the keys were not the only thing I left in the car.
Skipped checking in my small little overnight bag as I normally do and breezed thru TSA Precheck to reach the gate just in time. And it is then that I realized I had not bargained for another reality in life. Counting on Delta flights being late!!!!
Well, that allowed me to spend a few minutes with another friend of mine I ran into as I was running to the gate, but that is a story for another day!!!
12 May
2015
False advertisement!!
I was driving peacefully down I-94 from Milwaukee to Chicago, when I suddenly came across this board – somewhere in Wisconsin before I hit Illinois. Excitedly, I pulled over and looked around. Sadly, there was no sign of any soccer balls around, no smell of fried fish and no “khichuri” to be seen on this cloudy and rainy day! I could not even find a single person smoking a cigarette for that matter…
Total false advertising, I say!!
12 May
2015
Different kind of Puzzle – more of a trivia question
I took this grainy picture as I was driving last evening. It was very cloudy and the picture is not the best. But here is a question. There is something unique about the flag that you see. Can you guess what it is?
I will give you two hints – Look at the relative size of the car on the highway. And the other hint is I was in Wisconsin last evening.
10 May
2015
From the bartender’s corner – Raspberry Romance
10 May
2015
Chalupa run this morning
10 May
2015
New style of running
Thanks to my good old friend Mary Banks, I tried a new way of running today. No, this is not about how to run and get a visit from the ambulance. It is actually about running and walking. She suggested that I try out 3 minute run and 1 minute walk all throughout the run. She also suggested that I would be surprised by the average pace.
Which is exactly what happened. If you look at the graph (blue line) you can see the 3 minute runs (the troughs) and the 1 minute walks (the peaks). I would have guessed that I would average out around 12 minute mile given the heat and direct sunlight. Instead, it came to a pretty quick (for me) 10 min 15 seconds.
Couple of things I noticed – my runs were faster than expected since I was catching up with my breath during walks. And the walks had become faster than I would expect because I was already energized by the run. Finally, the muscles felt much better at the end since the wear and tear was distributed because of varying of the speed.
You will notice in the red line (time) that there were three temporary stops (vertical segments). The first one near 4 mile marker was a water break. The third one right after the 10 mile marker was waiting to cross a road. The second one around the 7 mile marker? That was to give the right of the way to a three feet King snake crossing the trail!!!
