Rohit left for his PhD in 1999 while Hrishikesh and I followed him to the US in 2000 and 2001 respectively. However, Sumeet was not tempted and remained in India for about 7 years until Feb 2006. He finally arrived to the US on a company project.
Most of us met during these 7 years. However, it has been 7 years since all 4 of us met. This was the first time all 4 of us were in the same country at the same time after 1999. So we decided to meet and the venue decided was Tampa, Florida.
Seven years is a long period. I had to dig out a picture of the 4 of us from 1996 or 1997 and compared with the current picture taken at the trip. Apparently, we all had gained weight and lost hair.
On top (taken at Sheetal’s house in 1996-1997): (from left) Rohit, Sumeet, Hrishikesh, Me. The bottom picture taken in Tampa, FL: (from left) Sumeet, Me(Harish), Hrishikesh, Rohit.
I landed in Tampa at 12:30 a.m. Rohit had already reached Tampa an hour ago. I had met Sumeet in my trip to India in January while I hadn’t met Rohit for about 5 years. Rohit didn’t change much (well, he got married to Sheetal). Rohit was the last person we ever expected to get married. And now he is not only married but is going to be a father in August this year. Time flies so fast.. so does Sumeet’s hair. This was one more shock for our group. Sumeet was once teased for his curly and thick hair. Today, he is fighting and hanging on to the last few strands that are still faithful to Sumeet’s head.
Sheetal and Asawari were waiting for us with the baggage. Sheetal was in the 6th month of her pregnancy. However, Rohit could still beat her in the Big Belly competition.
Sumeet is a new driver in the US. He and Asawari already had an adventurous drive to the airport and now he was more worried with Rohit and me in the car. We wouldn’t leave a single opportunity to tease Sumeet. The house was very well decorated by Asawari who is an architect by profession. We didn’t have much energy left after the long day. After chatting for about couple of hours, we went to sleep. It was nice meeting Rohit, Sheetal, Sumeet and Asawari. We still had Hrishi to join us the next day.
It was 8:30 when I felt something poking my A**. Oops!! Rohit is standing on top of me with a cricket bat. “You can put the bat to better use, Rohit”, I said. “That’s exactly what I am doing”, he replied. I was wide awake and now it was Sumeet’s turn to wake up. Haaahaa!! It wasn’t long before Sumeet walked out of the bedroom rubbing his rear and cursing at Rohit.
Sheetal and Asawari were kind enough to make awesome Omelet. Well, it has been a while since I had a nice breakfast. Thanx to both of them, it felt like home. By this time, Sheetal had guessed it right. Rohit woke everybody and now was comfortably taking a nap. It was our turn to use the bat.
It was 1 p.m. when we left to have lunch. Hrishi was arriving at 2:40. that gave us just one and half hour to eat lunch and drive to the airport. Rohit and I wanted to eat steak and we found “LongHorn Steakhouse” right opposite Sumeet’s apartment complex. Sumeet never had steak, but liked it. Time is not an issue with Rohit on the table. He could finish his 12oz. in less than 5 min. and then was scavenging on our plates. That’s typical Rohit that we all know. It took us just 15 minutes to eat, pay and leave.
Hrishi arrived on time. He had shaved off his head about a year back. Bald Hrishi had a small backpack and that was all he required for the trip. Well, the only things that matte to him are his boxers. Everything else is secondary. The next stop was car rental office. We gauged the prices and booked a minivan. Hrishi and I hopped in the big van and were to follow Sumeet’s car or that’s what we thought. Apparently, we were way ahead of the rest of the gang. Hrishi and I had a nice chat about facts of life as we saw them. Hrishi was hungry and that is a deadly situation. He can smell food miles away and that’s exactly how it happened. We were to go to Walmart to buy beer when Hrishi’s survival instincts sensed something round the corner and there it was; right at the corner was a BW3.
We had a great time at the BW3. It was cricket time when we reached home. Cricket is a mandatory event when we meet. Well, that’s exactly why we had the cricket bat with us. It was scorching hot but that didn’t dampen our spirits. The couple of hours on the tennis court (to play cricket) were refreshing. We lost couple of balls to the lake that day. One was a freak accident when Hrishi could not stop the ball rolling into the lake. After taking a nice cold water shower, we were ready to eat the Biryani and Tandoori. The food was irresistible. Nice game of cricket, great food and now we were all ready to have a fun evening at Ybor City. We called Anand who is living in Tampa for 5 years and was our guide to the place for the next couple of days.
Ybor City is a shopping, dining and entertainment district where the ancient art of premium hand-rolled cigar making lives on. You can go to www.ybor.org for more information.
I had never seen anything like Ybor city. I had no idea that you could have that many clubs on a single street. And to add to the surprise, I had never seen publicists for clubs that were promoting great offers like buy 1 drink and get 2 for free. Competitive market for club owners!! There were all kinds of clubs from Spanish club to reggae and hip hop clubs as well. We all settled at a place that was playing live music. After a few drinks and good music, we decided to head back home.
Food was waiting for us at home. Indian cuisine is great and all of us agreed with that fact. In fact, Hrishi, Anand and I were also favoring a lot of other cuisines like Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Italian, etc. The cuisine speaks a lot about the place and the people as well. This fact was making the conversation about cuisines more interesting. We were agreeing that Thai or Spanish cuisines provide great service while Indian cuisines always has buffets where Desis crowd for few dishes. Asawari wondered about our interest in the cuisines. However, she was naïve to understand the analogies. Well, she wasn’t just loaded with our cuisine fantasies; she had to digest the marriage concepts that we preached her till 5 in the morning. I am unsure about her understanding of the whole conversation. However, I am convinced that she would never try to use the term “test drive” in front of us.
Next morning was no better than the previous. Rohit was wrong using the cricket bat. Well, he made sure that we were wide awake and ready to go to the beach. We left for the beach by noon. The drive was fine until the Indian Idol in the car made it colorful. The awesome Indian Idol was accompanied by 12 pack of Bud Lit to lighten him up. The beach was crowded by the time we reached. It wasn’t just people that were crowding the beach; there were plenty of sea weeds that were polluting the water as well. Drinks were not allowed on the beach and we had to smuggle the beer on the beach. After about couple of hours we were dying to eat something good and what could be better than Frog legs and Gator nuggets. The next stop for the day was to the north beach. It was known for the beautiful sun sets and it was worth it. The last destination was a total let down. The sunshine bridge was hyped too mcuh and was no better than the bridge I see at any sea side.
On the way back, we stopped at Krispy Kreme for some fresh donuts. It was late and the donuts were free. With few dozen donuts and food from taco bell, we head for home. Sumeet was all charged up with the heavy sugar dose and could not help himself shouting from the back seat, “RIGHT!! RIGHT!!” Sumeet was paranoid all this while and could not stop back seat driving.
Next day was a long drive to Kennedy Space Center. It was an awesome experience. As a kid, I always was fascinated with NASA and today I was visiting it. I liked the launching pads and the rest of the equipment that was used for a launch. The shows and the museum were average and not as exciting as the amazing facts. We spend the whole day at the KSC and drove back to Orlando for dinner. It was steak time again at Lonestar. Unfortunately, the server was late to take our orders and fortunately, we got free appetizers and drinks (not a bad deal). We were full and were nearly dozing when we left. IT was a long and quiet drive from Orlando to Tampa.
We were home by 1 in the morning. Hrishi and I had to catch a flight at 6 and had to leave the house by 4. I hate sleeping for short period of time. I would rather prefer not sleeping at all and that’s exactly what I did. Asawari and Sheetal gave me company till 4. Both of them couldn’t stop pursuing me to stay. I couldn’t have delayed my flight as I had to attend few important meetings in the morning. However, lady luck or jinx hit me early next morning. Hrishi and I were caught in early morning traffic and I missed my flight. I could not believe my luck . After the flight fiasco, the long security check kept me waiting for an hour more at the airport. Finally, I got on another flight and was set for my trip back to Richmond. The time that I spent in those 3 days was memorable and I brought home a ton of moments to cherish for a long long time.
"Thank God for letting me choose my friends."
Most of us met during these 7 years. However, it has been 7 years since all 4 of us met. This was the first time all 4 of us were in the same country at the same time after 1999. So we decided to meet and the venue decided was Tampa, Florida.
Seven years is a long period. I had to dig out a picture of the 4 of us from 1996 or 1997 and compared with the current picture taken at the trip. Apparently, we all had gained weight and lost hair.
On top (taken at Sheetal’s house in 1996-1997): (from left) Rohit, Sumeet, Hrishikesh, Me. The bottom picture taken in Tampa, FL: (from left) Sumeet, Me(Harish), Hrishikesh, Rohit.
I landed in Tampa at 12:30 a.m. Rohit had already reached Tampa an hour ago. I had met Sumeet in my trip to India in January while I hadn’t met Rohit for about 5 years. Rohit didn’t change much (well, he got married to Sheetal). Rohit was the last person we ever expected to get married. And now he is not only married but is going to be a father in August this year. Time flies so fast.. so does Sumeet’s hair. This was one more shock for our group. Sumeet was once teased for his curly and thick hair. Today, he is fighting and hanging on to the last few strands that are still faithful to Sumeet’s head.
Sheetal and Asawari were waiting for us with the baggage. Sheetal was in the 6th month of her pregnancy. However, Rohit could still beat her in the Big Belly competition.
From Left: Sheetal, Asawari
Sumeet is a new driver in the US. He and Asawari already had an adventurous drive to the airport and now he was more worried with Rohit and me in the car. We wouldn’t leave a single opportunity to tease Sumeet. The house was very well decorated by Asawari who is an architect by profession. We didn’t have much energy left after the long day. After chatting for about couple of hours, we went to sleep. It was nice meeting Rohit, Sheetal, Sumeet and Asawari. We still had Hrishi to join us the next day.
It was 8:30 when I felt something poking my A**. Oops!! Rohit is standing on top of me with a cricket bat. “You can put the bat to better use, Rohit”, I said. “That’s exactly what I am doing”, he replied. I was wide awake and now it was Sumeet’s turn to wake up. Haaahaa!! It wasn’t long before Sumeet walked out of the bedroom rubbing his rear and cursing at Rohit.
Sheetal and Asawari were kind enough to make awesome Omelet. Well, it has been a while since I had a nice breakfast. Thanx to both of them, it felt like home. By this time, Sheetal had guessed it right. Rohit woke everybody and now was comfortably taking a nap. It was our turn to use the bat.
It was 1 p.m. when we left to have lunch. Hrishi was arriving at 2:40. that gave us just one and half hour to eat lunch and drive to the airport. Rohit and I wanted to eat steak and we found “LongHorn Steakhouse” right opposite Sumeet’s apartment complex. Sumeet never had steak, but liked it. Time is not an issue with Rohit on the table. He could finish his 12oz. in less than 5 min. and then was scavenging on our plates. That’s typical Rohit that we all know. It took us just 15 minutes to eat, pay and leave.
Hrishi arrived on time. He had shaved off his head about a year back. Bald Hrishi had a small backpack and that was all he required for the trip. Well, the only things that matte to him are his boxers. Everything else is secondary. The next stop was car rental office. We gauged the prices and booked a minivan. Hrishi and I hopped in the big van and were to follow Sumeet’s car or that’s what we thought. Apparently, we were way ahead of the rest of the gang. Hrishi and I had a nice chat about facts of life as we saw them. Hrishi was hungry and that is a deadly situation. He can smell food miles away and that’s exactly how it happened. We were to go to Walmart to buy beer when Hrishi’s survival instincts sensed something round the corner and there it was; right at the corner was a BW3.
We had a great time at the BW3. It was cricket time when we reached home. Cricket is a mandatory event when we meet. Well, that’s exactly why we had the cricket bat with us. It was scorching hot but that didn’t dampen our spirits. The couple of hours on the tennis court (to play cricket) were refreshing. We lost couple of balls to the lake that day. One was a freak accident when Hrishi could not stop the ball rolling into the lake. After taking a nice cold water shower, we were ready to eat the Biryani and Tandoori. The food was irresistible. Nice game of cricket, great food and now we were all ready to have a fun evening at Ybor City. We called Anand who is living in Tampa for 5 years and was our guide to the place for the next couple of days.
Ybor City is a shopping, dining and entertainment district where the ancient art of premium hand-rolled cigar making lives on. You can go to www.ybor.org for more information.
I had never seen anything like Ybor city. I had no idea that you could have that many clubs on a single street. And to add to the surprise, I had never seen publicists for clubs that were promoting great offers like buy 1 drink and get 2 for free. Competitive market for club owners!! There were all kinds of clubs from Spanish club to reggae and hip hop clubs as well. We all settled at a place that was playing live music. After a few drinks and good music, we decided to head back home.
Food was waiting for us at home. Indian cuisine is great and all of us agreed with that fact. In fact, Hrishi, Anand and I were also favoring a lot of other cuisines like Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Italian, etc. The cuisine speaks a lot about the place and the people as well. This fact was making the conversation about cuisines more interesting. We were agreeing that Thai or Spanish cuisines provide great service while Indian cuisines always has buffets where Desis crowd for few dishes. Asawari wondered about our interest in the cuisines. However, she was naïve to understand the analogies. Well, she wasn’t just loaded with our cuisine fantasies; she had to digest the marriage concepts that we preached her till 5 in the morning. I am unsure about her understanding of the whole conversation. However, I am convinced that she would never try to use the term “test drive” in front of us.
Next morning was no better than the previous. Rohit was wrong using the cricket bat. Well, he made sure that we were wide awake and ready to go to the beach. We left for the beach by noon. The drive was fine until the Indian Idol in the car made it colorful. The awesome Indian Idol was accompanied by 12 pack of Bud Lit to lighten him up. The beach was crowded by the time we reached. It wasn’t just people that were crowding the beach; there were plenty of sea weeds that were polluting the water as well. Drinks were not allowed on the beach and we had to smuggle the beer on the beach. After about couple of hours we were dying to eat something good and what could be better than Frog legs and Gator nuggets. The next stop for the day was to the north beach. It was known for the beautiful sun sets and it was worth it. The last destination was a total let down. The sunshine bridge was hyped too mcuh and was no better than the bridge I see at any sea side.
On the way back, we stopped at Krispy Kreme for some fresh donuts. It was late and the donuts were free. With few dozen donuts and food from taco bell, we head for home. Sumeet was all charged up with the heavy sugar dose and could not help himself shouting from the back seat, “RIGHT!! RIGHT!!” Sumeet was paranoid all this while and could not stop back seat driving.
Next day was a long drive to Kennedy Space Center. It was an awesome experience. As a kid, I always was fascinated with NASA and today I was visiting it. I liked the launching pads and the rest of the equipment that was used for a launch. The shows and the museum were average and not as exciting as the amazing facts. We spend the whole day at the KSC and drove back to Orlando for dinner. It was steak time again at Lonestar. Unfortunately, the server was late to take our orders and fortunately, we got free appetizers and drinks (not a bad deal). We were full and were nearly dozing when we left. IT was a long and quiet drive from Orlando to Tampa.
We were home by 1 in the morning. Hrishi and I had to catch a flight at 6 and had to leave the house by 4. I hate sleeping for short period of time. I would rather prefer not sleeping at all and that’s exactly what I did. Asawari and Sheetal gave me company till 4. Both of them couldn’t stop pursuing me to stay. I couldn’t have delayed my flight as I had to attend few important meetings in the morning. However, lady luck or jinx hit me early next morning. Hrishi and I were caught in early morning traffic and I missed my flight. I could not believe my luck . After the flight fiasco, the long security check kept me waiting for an hour more at the airport. Finally, I got on another flight and was set for my trip back to Richmond. The time that I spent in those 3 days was memorable and I brought home a ton of moments to cherish for a long long time.
"Thank God for letting me choose my friends."
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