Bon Voyage

One more farewell party for Thomas, this time being thrown by Girish of Puravankara.

Venue: Farm in Hebbal

Thomas picked me up at 8pm. We would have reached there in good time except for the lack of clear directions to the place. A petrol bunk that is not lt does not a good landmark make. It would also help if the residential property Sobha Windfall had changed it's name to Sapphire because that was what Thomas had been told it was called. Thomas got more exasperated with his driver the more we went round in circles. What made matters worse was that the other guys managed to find the place with the same directions. We only found out later that they made it on very good guess work. We did eventually get there after a few phone calls and Girish met us about 100m from the gate. We were that close!

The property was about 10 acres. There was only building which appeared more like a very large empty garage with a small room attached to it. But the grounds were very nice. Tree-lined driveway surrounded a well maintained lawn. Hedges surround the area. It was suprising not to see any flowering plants.

We were early even though we were 45 minutes late. Everything was barely set up. The makeshift bar only held a large dispenser of Bisleri water and some paper cups. There was a bottle of Red Label and a bottle of rum. The music system sat there unconnected and the DJ had yet to arrive. The caterer was no where in sight.

But all that got sorted out in half an hour. Thomas and JT carried over our much appreciated first round of drinks with a large bag of chips, which were devoured in no time at all.

Girish was a gregarious host. He managed to persuade everyone onto the 'dance floor' even though he claimed that he didn't dance. There were moments of hilarity when the two TC's (Thomas Chan & Ternasser Chwee) decided to have a game of 'rugby' where they kick their shoes as far as they could.

At 12.30, it was time to take leave. A long Indian goodbye ensued where one had a very good sense of how much TC was going to be missed. Business partner, adversary and friend, all at the same time.