Kiran, Suma & Meghu

Here is adding another kiran to my friends' list....you probably would have found his mention in my other blog(mumbai experience), but here is one completely dedicated to him and his family. I first met him at Datacons, my initial thought as i saw him was "one lazy old bum, finding it hard to carry his own weight across the floor!!!". Well, what can i say, these initial thoughts just got confirmed each day as i started knowing him better :-)
He is from srirangapatna(an island??), near mysore, and the whole MFUND team from datacons made a visit to his house once. That was an experience we always recall when together, his dad's immediate reaction to light some agarbathis, as we went in with stinking breaths!!!What was it with our bad breath....did everyone of us forgot to brush our teeth and have a wash or.......???That apart, his father reminded me very much of my own, the way he spoke to all of us, his love for cricket, almost everything. I think they should meet each other once, what do u say kiran??One more interesting fact about me and kiran is that since the time we have known each other, we have been sailing in the same boat. Whenever one of us went to mumbai, the other would immediately follow, i left datacons and joined wipro, he followed me there, even our salaries have been very much similar throughout our careers. Only once did he shoot ahead of me when he joined CapGemini, but then as fate would have it, he was dragged back to our "level". Again, both of us made it to the United States almost at the same time though from two different companies and to different places.
The first time when me and sush met kiran & family was at our common friend, Phani's wedding. Though we didnt have much interaction that day, there was a lot of 'nice' thoughts about me and sush being exchanged i believe. These 'thoughts' came out into light when we again met them in NewJersey, i think this needs some comments, what do u say suma??Anyways, me and sush planned a trip to NJ and of course stayed at kiran's house. Little did we know that they had made other plans to visit niagara when we were there, this needed a lot of pre-thinking and those 'nice thoughts' added up to ditch us and run away!!!!

Together we roamed around in NewYork, visited many places, and by the end of our first day, all of us had got to know each other very well and blended together. Suma and Sush became inseparable friends, always teasing each other and having fun throughout our stay. Both me and sush took an immediate liking to meghu, she was so cute and always wanted to gain our attention towards her. Even today we admire the way she has been brought up by her parents, she makes a perfect little girl, listens to what others say, and obliges to her parents words. Really, suma and kiran, you deserve a pat on your back for that. Keep it going!!
That was our first visit to kiran's house, though it was just a couple of days that we stayed together, all of us took a liking to each other and it was not long before we planned to visit them again.
This second visit, we had decided that we will spend our time very efficiently and not make it a very busy and tiresome stay. So we spent quality time with each other, made several visits to NY and also to some nearby temples. On our last day there, we had enough of NY, so decided to stay home, watch some movies, and catch up with each other. It was again a very pleasant stay and it only bonded our friendships even better. Kiran also booked his tickets to visit our place for Diwali and that was our next getting together and we left NJ almost awaiting their visit.
It was the fall season when kiran and family visited us at durham. Above all, it was diwali, and we wore our traditional dresses, lighted candles around the house, and created the festive atmosphere around us. We would have loved to burst some crackers if it was allowed, but nothing is like India!!!The following day we went on a drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway, supposedly one of the best known stretches across the North Carolina mountains to witness the fall colors. Every mile or so we had view points where we could enjoy the beautiful landscapes, colored in bright red, yellow and green. It was a pleasurable drive and we had to cut short the 120mile stretch and return home since we didnt make plans to stay out there in those cottages. We enjoyed having them over at our place, it was the first time someone visited us in US, and we felt more like family.