Peanuts and a Country Day Reunion

On Wednesday, I met up with an old childhood friend for lunch in Delhi, of all places. I've known Elizabeth since we were kids. We'd gone to elementary school together at Sunrise Valley and even daycare together at Country Day.

Although I've only seen Elizabeth once since she graduated from South Lakes in 1995, I happened to run into her twice in recent months in Reston. I first saw her the week before I left for India and briefly mentioned my upcoming trip and work. Then, when I was back home in December, I ran into her and her mother in Best Buy. She asked me about India and also mentioned that she would be traveling there at the end of the month.

I quickly learned that at this time of year, India is overrun by American business school students. I've read about them in the newspapers - both before their arrival and during their stays. I even ran into some while I was in Goa for New Year's. The group from Harvard Business School, of which Elizabeth was a part, had 100 students!

In any case, Elizabeth is in her last year at HBS and was participating in school-sponsored trips to India and Pakistan, while also conducting research for her field project. During her time in India, she traveled throughout the country, visiting Delhi, Agra, Mumbai, Kerala, Rajasthan (and probably some others) and met a host of Indian government officials and business leaders. That day, she was off to Pakistan to visit, Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. They are even scheduled to meet Pakistani President Gen. Musharraf.

The highlight of lunch of me was remembering that Elizabeth is also allergic to peanuts! When we ordered our food, she notified the waiter and asked that he ensure there were no nuts in her dish. I laughed because I'd completely forgotten that we had our nut allergy in common. And then we traded stories about other foods we are allergic to and not allergic to (Elizabeth: soybeans, but not almonds; Chanda: almonds, but not soybeans). I mentioned how Kelly once tried to kill me by mixing M&Ms with Reese's Pieces. Elizabeth tried to convince me to take one of her epi-pens - just in case. This is definitely a conversation that can only be enjoyed by people that are used to questioning waiters about food content and having their friends taste their food before each meal!