Update on Thursday, April 29, 1999
December 31, 1997 was an eventful day for me in more ways than one. Once a tightly-knitted group in Gandhinagar, career considerations took each of this lot of friends to different places - from the concrete jungle that was Tokyo to the more-than-warm Madras to the cosmopolitan Bangalore to Uncle Sam's sands to hot-hot Ahmedabad. In this scenario, it was more than coincidence that we managed a get-together in
Madras on 1998 eve. Nikila and Shankar&co were missed but the rest were there to pop the top. Infrequently in touch after that again in December 98, we met this time on the cozy comforts of Yahoo's internet chat room. I have a message board in my web page that allows close friends to start
a discussion/message
forum, and I'd compiled a minutes of our e-chat in there. Good friends never are lost. Are they?
Chandrasekhar.V.N
Chandru never let a moment die away without his wit & great sense of humor. His key-chain, TVS-50 were symptomatic of him and without him, the tamil gang never would have thrived as much as it did. All the juicy news at Tata Telecom were recounted in his inimitable style, and there was little that he did not know. Together with Sharad Upadhyay (another heavy-weight in Tata Telecom), he made the atmosphere in M.E. department light and enjoyable. Married to Uma & a happy father to a loving child, he is enjoying the cool weather in Wordsworthian England.
Jayashri.J
Now here was someone from whom I drew great inspiration. Behind all the façade of ingenuousness, I have seen a very intuitive person who has always thought the right thing, said the right thing and done the right thing. I remember all the long walks on the Gandhinagar GH roads with her talking a million things I have never broached even with my best friends. Gandhinagar may have been a black & white "documentary" without her cheerfulness. Thank God for that. A very sweet person, she is happily married to Jayakumar & settled in Madras. Touché.
Kannan.K
Krishnamachari Kannan! You can never get away from his wit & humor and if at all I managed my 3 years in Gandhinagar, thanks to Kannan's wit & culinary skills. The nicest person, I have EVER met, I can never forget my first day at Gandhinagar when the HR department ditched me after promising to arrange lunch. Without a clue to the place or the language, Kannan whom I had never met before approached me,
took me home on his unique flying machine 'The Bajaj' and I palated a royal lunch right off that 'out-of-this-earth' kitchen. Despite the usual office rivalry & politics, Kannan was the only person who everyone liked - ungrudgingly. At Reliance Telecom, his enthralled boss at Tata Telecom, Manoj Mudgal and Kannan work together.
Nikila
No wonder she is a Virgo! She surprises me every time I talk to her - faster than light to jump to conclusions, she is one hell of a friend to have. One of my best friends, she is settled with her hubby Arun in Atlanta after a stint in OKI, Japan. In Tata Telecom, she was the queen and unlike other girls in office she broke every norm - spoke her mind, impressed her boss, worked late hours & knocked-out anyone who disagreed with her with a left hook & jab. I don't think anyone else would have had a spectacular send-off as she did, when she left Gandhinagar for Japan. Everyone including Nikila chased the moving train, she somehow boarded it, the porter threw her luggage into the moving train (after witnessing the Rs.100 breezing down the platform), the rest of us fell flat on our face on the platform. How else do you think it works with Nikila? An unforgettable moment for me, I'll always cherish.
Pramod John
My first Gandhinagar roomie, he never dropped his guard - EVER. We were never really close as many may have imagined, but he has always been there for any help, which so often I took for granted from him. A very intelligent person, had a contrasting, very stupid boss who had to make differentiations such as that, his daughter was a girl. Not being able to take all this crap, he left for greener pastures in Japan. Now in California with 3COM, he must be missing his
penchant for Japanese noodles & sushis.
Ravishankar.S
The instant winner for the most popular member in the Tamil gang at Gandhinagar or at Tata Telecom would have been Ravi. He was the most sensible person around & responded with the right attitude to any & all situations. For a while he was plying between Japan & Madras on behalf of OKI, he is now settled in Madras. Some of his possessions: A loving family and whether he knows or not, friends who would do anything for him.
KShankar & Vinny
Forget Laila-Majnu, Romeo-Juliet, Anarkalli-Saleem - those were stories of defeat and mere tales of un-dying love. The most wonderful & perfect couple I have ever seen, Vinny & Shankar are a model family. Aditya & Mallika completed the score and I have spent much time to heart-felt content at their home in Gandhinagar. Though it goes back in time, and I have never witnessed it myself, legend says that Shankar married Vinny in real movie fashion. Hey, remember the prince who swept away the bride on his horse during a swayamwara? Was he called Shankar???
Robinson Paul
The Gandhinagar Tamil gang would never be complete without Robin. No one could ever understand him, but he always tried to please all. Even though I had some serious differences with him towards the end of his stay at Gandhinagar, it's all passé now. Being the prankster I'm, I guess I overdid it and he just tried to get to me once. It was the Tyson punch - A perfect knockout!