The Potpourri Of Good Times

"We must celebrate the Silver Jubilee with a Big Bang. Let’s start planning right away” she said in that animated voice of hers.

I remember that evening of 31.08.2019 as though it happened just yesterday. It was an impromptu meeting of the four of us from the Good Times Gang (GTG) as we had been rechristened by the lady who had just uttered those words. GTG was the team that had set up a branch of an MNC in the heart of Hyderabad way back in the year 1995.

But then life happened and quite a few members moved out of the MNC, out of the city, and a few, even out of the country. But the group held on to its ties over emails, phone calls, and Whatsapp chats. So it was only appropriate that they called themselves GTG in commemoration of the good times they had and were continuing to have over virtual/real meetings. As the years went by, the group only grew in size including the growing number of family members into its fold.

The fact that the meeting was being held in an unkempt Café Coffee Day (CCD) whose glory had only been in the past, did little to dampen their spirits. Over the aroma of the fresh brew, they got heady, discussing their plans for the upcoming silver jubilee of their branch office during the forthcoming year, i.e, on 31.08.2020.

They decided that with some advance planning, they could pull off a grand reunion of GTG members from across the globe, in some place of mutual convenience.

Then the proposed plan was disposed of by COVID-19. In August 2020, the team found itself in self-isolation for months under Lockdown(s), barely stepping out of their homes.

But the spirit of the team refused to allow a ‘novel Coronavirus’ to play the spoilsport, notwithstanding the advanced age of many a member in the team. Realizing that the lockdown in a way did unlock the more ‘inclusive’ and boundaryless virtual world, where the members from outside the country had an equal opportunity to participate.

“Let’s bring out another edition of “Potpourri” one senior member texted on the group chat.

“Well, why not?” I thought without realizing that I had in fact given shape to those words as a reply message. “Potpourri” was the name of the newsletter we had brought out on the first anniversary of our branch way back in 1996.

Having nothing better to do, we all got wildly excited drawing out plans and allocating responsibilities for bringing out our “Potpourri”. With quite a few of us have retired from active jobs, our idling corporate brains once again came alive to the prospect of drawing some excel sheets and checklists that they were so very used to.

The team reached out to many alumni who were now spread across the globe, some retired, some working elsewhere and a few still working within the same MNC. The month went by in a jiffy and finally with the contribution of 60 alumni including the full quorum of GTG’s contribution, the “Potpourri” a Coffee Table Book got released on 31.08.2020 celebrating the Silver Jubilee of our branch office.

As we shared the Coffee Table book with all the contributors, the aroma of the shared memories wafted the layers of time, pulling out not only the events themselves but also the beautiful emotions that were connected with them, making all of us relive them yet again.

Even those, who were not remotely connected with the experience, needed a refuge away from the gloom and doom of the pandemic and our Coffee Table Book provided that kind of safe haven. For us, it also became our own beautiful bio-bubble of the frozen moments from the past captured in all their glory to reach out to whenever we felt like it.

It’s a beautiful paradox that our “Potpourri” wouldn’t have made it into the world but for the lockdown imposed during the pandemic. This book born out of a pandemic, was untouched by the tragedy of the pandemic, just like a lotus born in a lake remains untouched by the surrounding sludge.

It also showcased that even while being physically entrapped, we are only limited by the boundaries we set ourselves in our imagination.

An overdose of nostalgia and excitement marked the ZOOM meeting we had on the occasion of “Potpourri’s” launch through the hands of our first Branch Head who had not only brought us together but also kept us connected over the last 25 years. Quite a few people amongst us unashamedly shed tears of joy. Though all of us have moved on with our individual lives, during that meeting, time and place came to a standstill with each of us being transported back to 31.08.1995 into that beloved branch of ours.

Friendships, by their very nature, are the purest of relationships not being bound by the threads of lineage or blood. Over a lifetime, we do end up striking a chord with some people we come across and if we are fortunate and work it well, we end up with some lifelong friendships too.

But for such an event to happen with a group of people in a single stroke is nothing short of a miracle that we experienced in the span of our lifetime. Through my own firsthand experience over a career of three decades, I learned that magic happens when teams really gel well.

Of course, not all members from that first team stuck together as our small group did. What matters is that the center did hold and we hope it holds on into the future.

This true story is being submitted in commemoration of all lifelong friendships out there as the GTG celebrated the 26th year of its association on 31.08.2021.