Atlanta with Kannan

Kannan Ramakrishnan and I are unlikely friends. 

But friends we are. 

We worked together at the now defunct BearingPoint as PeopleSoft consultants. Kannan is technical and I am functional. So we had to work together on the designs of software systems often. After working together very passively in Stamford, CT, I knew he was the go-to man for most questions. But we werent yet friends. 

But after 2 stints working as a very small team in Minneapolis in an oversize broom closet, we finally became friends. 

As coworkers, we were very confrontational with each other. Hashing through designs, oftentimes our colleague would have to shut the broom closet door because we'd be shouting at each other so loudly and aggressively in front of a whiteboard.  

After um, very heated discussions, we'd have no problem looking at each other and speaking in civilized manner, "Do you want to myburger or taco john's for lunch?"

We really bonded over our compatible work styles, and new teammates were amazed that we actually liked and respected each other after witnessing us interact in these design sessions. 

But that's just how we roll. 

I got to know Kannan's wife Usha and brilliant son Rohith also. They always extended a very sincere invite to visit them in Atlanta but there never was a good time. Until now. 

Trying to get to Rio de Janeiro for my next adventure, I used Grasso Charm and somehow managed a business class flight from Belgrade with a 26 hour stopover in Atlanta for an obscenely low amount of points. I knew the agent had to transfer me to the manual ticketing departmnt bc my itinerary was breaking every soft warning an hard stop in their software system (clearly NOT designed by me and Kannan).  

I arrived in Atlanta and was warmly welcomed to the home of Usha, Kannan and Rohith. Warm welcome is an understatement - I have never ever in my whole life felt so welcomed into someone's home before. Not to not be grateful to anyone that has ever invited me to their house, but these guys really turned on the southern hospitality. Although since they are from the south of India, maybe it is really southern Indian hospitality. 

We had a great time catching up on work gossip and really just hanging out. Usha and I went to a pilates class, and then gossiped about Kannan. Apparently she had never really heard the stories about the workstyle of me and Kannan (until I read her the draft of this blog posting) but she really got a kick out of it.

One of the highlights was taking Rohith to Chick-Fil-A (although for some reason he associated visits with me to Mexican food and expected Mexican.). As most people know, I am on this boycott of American fast food chains during my big trip. I love fast food, but hate the idea of America destroying other cultures, so I made this "noble" promise to myself that I wouldnt support it during my trip. However, I found a loop hole in my promise - I was in the US, and Chick-Fil is actually from Georgia, so technically I was getting local culture and indulging in yummy greasy fast food too.