Lost a Good Friend

 Vasanti was first the wife of Muthu, a colleague and friend. Then, she became a friend- the two daughters also were friends of ours. Swati and Sreya. Saw them grow up, in our multiple meetings. Her Mom and Dad also became friends, so did her brother. Her dad lived to be 95, and was my facebook friend! He had worked in Kolkata a long time.

Vasanti studied at IIM Calcutta, and experimented with a few jobs with companies in Bangalore, and then settled into domestic life. She was into music, serious singer and did a few rounds with friends.

Very interesting conversationalist, with firm views on anything you talked about. Very supportive of my job changes which we discussed many times- whenever I changed jobs. 

She had cancer for the last few years, and did fight it for around 5 years, through many chemo or other treatments. Finally the fight ended on April 10th. Will miss you, Vasanti.

                                    With Vasanti and Muthu, in Bangalore. In better times.

Obituary For a Great Friend

 He was a faculty member at Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies in Harihar, when I met him, in the late 90s. He taught Organisational Behaviour or O.B. I just spoke to Jogeswari, who was taught by him, and she spoke warmly about his course.

He was a serial entrepreneur, with numerous ventures- some successful, others learning opportunities. He runs a school in Coimbatore, and they also teach Shooting- his daughter in law Sindhu is a National level shooter and trainer.

His home was like a second home for me and my family. We visited whenever we could. Of course, he was a Golfer too, and we had visited Kodaikanal along with Vijayakumar a few times. Memorable times.

He had a great sense of humour, and we also travelled to Bali together a couple of times. Went Whitewater rafting in Ubud too!

He will be missed. He passed away on May 10th after a brief illness.

Loss of a Friend

 Losing family and friends is always tough. Around two years ago, my mother passed away at the age of 91. Though she had a full life, healthy and satisfying-pathbreaking in many ways too-it was not very easy to digest the loss. COVID saw many lose their life, and even hearing those stories was tough. Now, I heard about the loss of a dear friend who was a pillar of support, and a great joy to be with, in Greenwood, where I taught for a few years before returning to India. He was a prof. at the same place too.

We would land up at his house unannounced, any time we felt like meeting up, Indian style. He was always welcoming, and insisted on us having a drink. His wife also became a great friend, and continues online to this day. His sons were little at the time, and I remember them prancing around, or playing Basketball out in the lawn.

Well, it's true that the bell tolls for everyone, but still, hard to bear some losses of dear ones.

Timeless and Ageless Friends

 Friends, many a time, are ageless, timeless, and matchless. Nothing compares catching up with them, any time and any number of times. Of course, in Bangalore, traffic keeps you away from some, at times.

On a recent trip outside Bangalore, I managed to catch up with Nishka, an old student, ghost-writer and friend. It was amazing, as always, and we ended up having a long chat about various facets of life. Managed to throw in a short trip to a bookstore also, since we are both addicts. Also found out that her Mom is from Belgaum/Dharwad, which was a big surprise.

Some pics that I will cherish, for a long time.. 

The last one's keema pao, which I had after a really long time...

Meetings and Nostalgia

Nowadays, every meeting that I have is tinged with nostalgia- tells you a story! Anyways, my friend from childhood in Andhra Pradesh (his parents and mine were both in Singareni Collieries), through a few years in the US, and me, met with family after a while. It was great to catch up, with Ken Jolly, aka Kiran Kenjale, and his wife. Thanks to him, I visited lesser-known parts of L.A., including Knott's Berry Farm, NBC Studios, and also took my first Eurail trip by breaking journey in Frankfurt on the way to India from the U.S. Some pics-

In case you were wondering, this was the wine :)

Get a Good Photographer

Yes, I know the trend these days is to take selfies, but I cannot underline enough the need for you to make friends with a good photographer. It can be the difference between you looking like ............ (fill in the blank with whoever you adore) and you looking like Dino Morea (sorry, man, nothing personal).

I have now seen, just by virtue of being on the planet long enough-it's not some special skill- many people who look like celebrities or better, just because of this special friend. In fact, many celebrities would not look like themselves without their Atul Kasbekar-like photographers. Not all of us are fortunate to have great looks which look great under the gaze of any camera at any time, but getting a good photographer friend can result in great pics for all of us...I am not kidding! (The DP award winners might just agree).

A problem with selfies is that they limit your flexibility, apart from turning your image into a mirror-image. But even if you fix that, it's hard to do a few things which a good photographer can do.

I am planning to get one (just to prove that I follow my own advice)- it's never too late! Make this your half-yearly resolution.

Meeting a Long-lost Friend

Met a schoolmate after 1977. It is one of the wonders of email that I traced him (or he did me) recently, and discovering that both were in Delhi, proposed that we meet. So we did.

Narendranath works in the Telecom department, in the central services. Was also a faculty member for a while within their training establishment, and might still do a Ph.D. We were together at Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur from 7th until 11th- those days school finished in the 11th (CBSE did). Reminiscing about many of our classmates after such a long time (since we only met a few over the years, was tough, but we did recollect some vividly.

A classmate of ours is a chef abroad, some are entrepreneurs, and some in the public or private sector in service. I am of course, in academia. Nice to know most are successful in their own chosen lines of work/entrepreneurship, or retirement!

I recommend this highly to anyone at anytime. Booster dose of enthu and medicine for the blues, if any.