Modern Social Media is amazing. An old colleague from my time in North India between 1980 and 1983, Awadesh got in touch with me through the facebook/whatsapp media a couple of weeks ago and has been in regular touch since then. He retired a couple of years ago and has settled down in Noida near Delhi and spends his time enjoying his grandchildren.
In one of our chats on facebook he mentioned that he was going through some old photographs and was taken down memory lane when I was in the North. He very kindly sent me some photographs through email, another great convenience and I too went down memory lane remembering those very enjoyable days.
I have chosen three photographs where I feature to show my readers how I looked then!
The first one is in the summer of 1980 when I visited Kanpur with the Manager from whom I was taking over and the local Administration Manager. I am still in regular touch with both the gentlemen featured in the photograph though one is in Calcutta and the other in Delhi.
The next is a group photograph with two expat Managers, one of whom was retiring shortly. I used to wear a tie occasionally!
The next one is when I was handing over charge to my successor in Delhi while visiting Kanpur with the then Branch Manager on the right. You will notice that I am sans my trademark beard. This was due to a bet that I had lost when I had to shave of my beard. I grew it back promptly after a few days of being without one.
Our firm celebrated its 100th year of existence with great pomp all over India while we were in Delhi and the three and a half years that we lived there those days are indelibly etched in my mind for many things least among them the fantastic team that I worked with under severe competitive conditions. We worked hard but also played hard those days. Compared to those days, my other postings were much easier to handle in terms of competition and climate!
Among the other things that come to mind are the death of Sanjay Gandhi, the great train robbery of the Gomti Express when bandits left two of our colleagues alone because they saw the travellers’ briefcases among them and said “these fellows are agents, unlikely to have any money with them”!
There are some more memories of personal nature, the most important one being my hips giving way during our stay there, and others like the holidays that we took all over North India as well as entertaining many relatives and friends who came stayed with us and visited places of interest all over.
For me, there’s nothing like holding that old black and white picture in my hands. The digital might be brighter and bigger, but it’s just not the same.
I agree with you.
We have gazillions of photos, and they do bring back wonderful memories. 🙂
I’m also learning to play one of my favorite songs on the glockenspiel, which brings back a wonderful memory. I will write about it soon.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Saturday Night Live Spoofs
I had to look up glockenspiel! Have fun. Actually, I envy you your enthusiasm.
i enjoyed this post rummy!
can’t get used to you without your beard though.
kind of like magnum’s mustache… some things just shouldn’t be messed with! LOLOL!
so glad you grew it right back. 🙂 and i like you best in indian clothes. NO TIES! 😀
i read the entire link on sanjay ghandi. wow.
kind of almost had your own donald trump there it seems.
in some ways it looks like his heart might have been in the right place for india but it was overshadowed by his immature handling of almost everything it seems.
power corrupts. (unless the writers of the article were very one-sided.)
i don’t know enough to make an educated judgment. still. reminds me of what we’re going through now… it certainly couldn’t have been boring!
you lived in some very interesting times and had a most demanding position!
LOVE the old pictures!
tammy j recently posted..moving on old bean
I continue to live in very interesting times as far as Indian politics go. Subsequent to my Delhi posting, I got into more and more demanding positions till I finally retired after which, the most demanding of work that I ever did had to be undertaken. I don’t wish to elaborate, but you know what I mean.
What great memories. It is always interesting what comes flooding back as a memory, and when. Any chance you will share the bet that resulted in the temporary loss of beard? ?
When I was posted at Delhi as Regional Manager North, it was the second largest in terms of volume and value sales in India. I had taken a bet with my counterpart in Bombay, the largest that I would make North the largest and though on a few occasions I had achieved that, I was unable to do it on a lasting basis and I was transferred out of North to the West and so I had to be sans my beard for a couple of weeks. Once I was in the West, which was my home base, North could never catch up anyway! Now, your question has triggered other memories of that race too!
I have many photo albums which contain a few pictures of friends I worked with. They go back as far as the 1950’s. I just wish that I could remember all their names after so many years.
Big John recently posted..Adolescent angst plus !
I can relate to your angst. I can’t either. I do however remember the names of the key personnel in the dramas everywhere.
photographs seem to bring all kinds of forgotten things to light…sometimes when f/b tries to show me something I posted/picture wise, I am reminded that only a few years ago xyz happened…so I want to remind myself or my readers, usually not.
when I was shifting I remember putting all kinds of pictures together – they are still packed away, as other things are more pressing right now…
Nothing like spending an afternoon flipping through old albums or going through shoe boxes full of old photographs.