Indigo Deli

There is just no getting away from the fact that the batch of 1973 has woken from a deep stupor in which most of us were just too busy getting on with our adulthood and early middle-age and not even subconsciously trying to re-acquaint ourselves with the classmates we grew up with in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the legends of our youth are finding time to re-establish ties with friends from yesteryear, Peter's enthusiasm to catch up with Farrokh and me on 15th August at his home in New Jersey being a classic case in point.

For me, the quest...pardon the word...to literally MEET all my classmates again has astonished my wife and possibly some of my friends but to me its like a crusade, a holy grail to be pursued, a magnificent obsession almost on par with my love for playing golf! Thus far, it has reminded me of more happy memories than any of my (limited!) past achievements ever do and literally become as important as caring for my family or ...going to work!!

On 29th August , Farrokh, Hussain, Kappy and I met for lunch at Indigo Deli; three addmaths wizards and one commerce clown all together in the same room together for the first time since 1968 in class 6G. Nothing much had changed....we talked and laughed about memories( which though opaque at first) burst into clarity as each of us contributed what we remembered of those innocent yet hilarious years.

As some of you may know, Farrokh is a department head at Rutgers teaching Eco and Finance and heading their Shanghai faculty, Hussain is a Hospital architect working with a leading firm of Hospital Designers and Kappy is a thriving exporter of cotton hygiene products to numerous European and American corporations and retail chains.

We had been at the table for two hours when a gentleman came and stood by our table ...I presumed he was upset and asked him if he could give us a couple of minutes more before we left. "Actually I've come to meet you all," said the rotund stranger. Apologetically, I asked as to who he was. "I'm Karl Kerawalla, you are Behram aren't you?" was the reply. The hugs and backslapping that followed were nothing short of incredible and the five of us moved on to Barrista for another hour of more coffee and "catch-up."

Karl told us about his nine years at Manipal med-school, his opening of a nursing home and its subsequent closure and best of all..his present profession ; the proud owner of a brand new hotel built and run by him!!

We finally dispersed at 4.30 or so; three and a half hours of seamless interaction brought to a close by the realization that Sunday is supposed to be a day of quality time spent with the family (in this case, the cathedral family).

-Behram