Of Farewell Lunches...Part 5

Well, I have the 2 biggies to go. This one is about the lunch that had R had thrown for all of us (all Process Managers and Team Leaders) along with of course, the fellow GM's and heads of the support departments. This was more about the fun that we had than the food itself! The event was organized at the banquet hall of Park Residency, Kakkanad. As usual, B and I were the first ones to reach and we were almost half hour ahead of schedule. The hotel had just opened an Executive Bar and a Lounge Bar and we thought we should go and check out the place. 5 minutes later, we found ourselves at the lounge bar sipping mocktails. The place was cool, with 2 LCD screens, comfy couches and good service. The bar desk had not been fully arranged plus there was some more work to be done at the sides. But, all in all for a place like kakkanad, I must say it was appealing. Green Salad and Potato Chips were served on the house. The best thing was the Italian Dressing that was served with the Salad. It was amazing! The mocktails were also very good :-) R being the host came in next and the Hotel Manager grandly announced that there was this lady who was waiting for R and since she did not find him, had gone down to the lounge bar (Later only I realized that B had spoken to the Manager. The poor guy had not seen me coming in!). R joined us in a minute with a wicked smile on his face and all 3 of us had a hearty laugh over the whole episode! It was time for us to assemble at the banquet hall and people started dropping in one after the other. R had arranged for beer as well as soft drinks and the hall was arranged as if we were attending a training session. There was this podium as well as a big chart paper attached to a board with the requisite writing material. Knowing R, we were slightly suspicious as to whether he was planning to train us on some management funda :-) But, R had other plans in mind. He wanted it to be a properly convened meeting with everyone talking about his/ her experience of working with R. He had specifically brought the chart paper because he wanted autographs from all of us on a single sheet which he was planning to frame, quite a novel thought, rite? I was assigned the job of the emcee which I happily accepted. There were many people who spoke at length about R. How he terrorized them in the initial phase and how he used pick on them and how he turned out to be their favorite in an year's time! I also spoke about R. I fondly remember the time I spent with him, how he has calmed when I was disturbed, how he encouraged me to try out everything and how he congratulated me on even my smallest achievement! R is one of those persons I met in my professional life who is truly irreplaceable! I really thought I will break down on R's last day at Kochi Office, thankfully it did not happen. I was sure that I was not going to bid him farewell when he leaves office on the last day, so I left office earlier than he did :-) Coming back to the lunch, after all those speaking sessions, it was time for us to hand over the laptop bag we had bought for him from Hidesign! A and S handed it over to him and then it was time for the photographs! By this time, hot, piping lunch was ready to be served and all of us rushed to the buffet table. The lunch was very good- hot rotis, 2 non veg dishes, 4 veg dishes, noodles and the customary salad- pickle- pappadam! A filling lunch and some tasty desserts later, R, A, M and I headed straight to the lounge bar to spend some more time with R... Looking back, it was a day very well utilized and a day that I would remember for a very long time to come...All of us at Kochi office still miss R a lot, but here is wishing him good luck in all his endeavors :-)