PiccaDelhi Meet - ISB

Was on my way to Shimla for New Year's - had stopped in Delhi for the night - and joined the meet before taking a bus to Shimla.

I reached PiccaDelhi around 1:30 - I was the sixth person to reach. I was a bit apprehensive at first - wasn't sure what kind of reception I would get - not sure what the apprehensiveness was about - but there was this feeling. However as soon as I reached - I felt comfortable - as if I belonged to the group - and it didn't seem like this was the first time we'd met.

We had an initial round of introductions - and I was a bit surprised at the mix of people and their backgrounds. I had naively assumed that most would be techies - more like the nerdy kinds - but I found a motley group of guys very similar to the people I had in my previous colleges. And I had thought I might be stuck for a year with nerdy "brains" who can only think of studying. How wrong I was. The people I met were full of "life" and not at all the studious kinds (and was I relieved . . . .).

Soon more people starting coming in and we had more rounds of introductions (I think we kept on introducing ourselves again and again) Finally we ordered some beer and food - I think by now the waiters had given us up as hopeless and a waste of space. But I guess we made up for it after our orders.

Soon we had a full quorum and finally an official round of introductions. Then the table broke down into the usual inane chatters which everyone (myself included) loves so much. We drank - we ate - we enjoyed ourselves.

One incident I remember is when Kritika asked the question as to who all were married and the question was passed down the table through Prateek (aka talli) and after getting all the answers from the other end (3 married I think) he asked as to who had initiated the question. Kritika mentioned that she had asked and Prateek inquired whether she was married or not and when she replied that she was - his face fell and a loud "OH" came. It was so funny - the entire table started laughing. Of course Prateek did back down and say " I didn't mean it like that" - but it was hilarious.

Then there was a round of tongue twisters courtesy the hotel "clown" - We had to say "Upper Roller - Lower Roller" 10 time fast. Round the table people (including me) bumbled and trumbled till at last Gautam got it correctly. He got a watch as a gift - which he gave to Anurag for arranging such a great get-together.

Finally it was time to leave - we paid the bill - and Vikram (DR VIKRAM) asked if someone had a mobile camera and should take a photograph. Then I remembered that I had my camera in my bag and should have taken it out earlier. Anyways - we managed to get one good photo . .. . .