Dear everyone,
Meeting our colleagues after a lapse of 36 years! Each of us had lived a lifetime before we assembled again at our own great Girish`s place for catching up. We had parted in 71 before we ourselves were settled and now we were here again to meet when it is the turn of our children to plan their settlement!
It all kicked off thanks to the excellent organizational skills of Vekata (why Venkata instead of Venkat?) and Girish and they had planned the occasion taking care of even small details. The vehicles were in attendance before time for transporting us to Yelahanka. (only Puj`s flight got delayed but had he traveled by train instead of by flight then it was well within the powers of Girish - literally, as he is the big boss of Railways, to maneuver the train to reach Bengaluru in time!).
Partly to his position but mainly due to Anuradha, the evening was spread thoughtfully and had all the ingredients what with games, stroll around the swimming pool/badminton hall, plenty of reminiscence, anecdotes and music from our own Venkata, photo sessions in plenty, good food prepared by herself and topped with a variety of sweet dishes, et el! All of us had a go at the billiards table though badminton, my own favourite, could not be attempted what with our attire not suiting the experiment. The facilities were excellent with an entourage always available to help us out with anything we needed. A whole day’s program also would have fallen short to taste what was there in offer.
Venkat graced the occasion with Usha who herself is a who’s who in the I T field being a top official (M D) in Cisco. His daughter is a 3 rd year Engg student and more importantly a Bhatarata Natyam exponent while son is struggling to keep pace in his tenth std.
My own daughter Meghna (second daughter) benefited from the tips received both from Usha and Puj whose daughter Nupur (who also is in Cisco) has just left for Moutainview Calif where Meghna is proceeding this weekend to join Google. So Merani, one more frequent visitor to your place will be from yours obediently as well.
Girish`s son also is in states and daughter is likely to tie the magic knot to a handsome merchant navy boy shortly.
Puj, the most fertile man in our group with six children, gave the gist of just concluded marriage, once again to our benifit. The Iskon style marriage with its special rituals is really an eye opener.
While I had brought a Black Label Puj disclosed a bottle of Vodka but it was mutually agreed (with a push from Anu) that we shall open the Black and White at the next meeting.
I personally felt Girish is still the same thoughtful self with customary measured statements while Venkata has really turned himself into an extrovert. I could never imagine our own Venkat had so much exuberance hidden in him and he literally carried the show on his shoulders! Puj, the man from Dubai, was typically reserved and was answering mostly only when spoken to but could make out that he had plenty to be tapped.
The enthralling get-together came to an end in the late hours of the day and we bade goodbye only to plan the next one shortly.
I am not sending you the photos as already many are doing the rounds. But Girish/Ramu, I personally feel the picasa is no good if you enlarge the photo to full screen as the lack of resolution makes it blur. May be we should stick to former method only.
Ramu, you definitely missed out on an enchanting boisterous lively meeting as much as we missed you. But of course you could not have made it what with the problem you were faced with. And Suresh sood, Murli and Rajinikant were missed too! Hope you all make it to the next one.
