DEEPAK VENUGOPAL

DEEPAK VENUGOPAL

The third post on my blog is dedicated to one of my oldest and closest friends, Deepak Venugopal. My friendship with Deepak dates back to the second and third grades in the academic years 1989/90 and 1990/91 respectively at Indian School Muscat, Oman.

Apart from being classmates, we have four other things in common. Firstly, we lived in the same locality (Al Wadi Al Kabir), which I discovered six years after our classes got shuffled. Secondly, his father and my father were business associates. Thirdly, we have a lot of friends in common. Fourthly, both of us have lived and worked in Mumbai.

He hails from the city of Kochi in Kerala (which is, incidentally, the first city I will be visiting on my first-ever solo vacation next month). Unfortunately, I will not be able to meet up with him, because he is miles away in Sweden and his family is in Muscat. However, I hope we get an opportunity to catch up soon, because it has been about twelve years since we've been out of touch (except for being on each other's friend lists on Orkut and chatting on Google Talk occasionally).

Deepak is a gem of a guy and a thorough gentleman. He is extremely well-mannered, down to earth and loyal to his friends. The word 'Deepak' means lamp in Hindi, and true to his name, he lights up the lives of all those who are close to him.

He is a software engineer by profession. He lived in Paris before moving to Sweden and worked with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India's largest software companies.

Born on the 29th day of May, Deepak shares his birthday with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who was one of the first two men to reach the peak of Mount Everest (along with Sir Edmund Hillary) in 1953. In fact, it is sheer coincidence that Hillary and Norgay reached the summit of the world's tallest mountain on the same day (i.e. May 29). Here's hoping Deepak also continues to scale new heights in his personal and professional life.

He is a Gemini. People born under that sign of the zodiac are adaptable, versatile, communicative, witty, intellectual, eloquent, youthful and lively. Deepak fits the bill perfectly as far as the first two traits (i.e. adaptable and versatile) and the last two traits are concerned, but he is simple, shy and soft-spoken.

In fact, our personalities are as different from each other as chalk and cheese: Deepak is quiet and reserved, while I am gregarious. That is probably why we get along so well.

Apart from the three qualities that begin with the letter 'S' that I mentioned earlier (namely his simple, shy and soft-spoken nature), there are three other qualities that begin with the letter 'H' that aptly sum up Deepak: he is honest, humble and helpful.

I've known Deepak for two decades and hope to be in touch with him for life. Here's wishing him all the very best of luck in all his future endeavours.