An evening in Zurich

"I think we may be the only Indians there tonight", I said as we got towards the end of the A3 to Zurich.

The wife works for a legal firm, and is always game for a debate; so she immediately responded saying "you think Credit Suisse has no other Indian clients?"

"I think there will be no other high net worth Indian clients that will be invited tonight."

"How do you know? How can you say that?"

"I must be wrong. I am sure there will be many others. Let's see if we know anyone." I give up easily. This discussion would not result in anything useful.

CS had done a good job in organizing this event. The Park Hyatt parking lot had been closed off except for invitees. We were forced to walk into the hotel through the front entrance (where a carpet had been laid) so that somebody could stop us and take an "official" photo. The lobby, bar and restaurant seemed to have been closed off to the general public and reserved for the Roger Federer charity event. That's where we checked in at about 6:15 PM on Monday the 20th of December, 2010.

It was already pretty crowded. Through the grapevine (read Edy) we had heard that there would be about 350 people invited. The objective was to collect money for Roger's charity for children in Africa. It seemed that many of the 350 were there already. People were milling about, imbibing from an impressive list of drinks. On the whole, the food and drink selection was very impressive as well. And did I mention the service staff? They were absolutely brilliant and impeccable. First Class.

Roger made an appearance about 7 PM and stayed there until about 11. He was charm personified. He mixed with everyone, fielded all kinds of questions, posed for photos, signed a thousand or more autographs. An amazing person. You can argue that it was a high end charity event for him, so he could not afford to be otherwise; but he smiled and was in good humor for all 4 hours. Could tennis or Switzerland wish for a better ambassador? If you did not love him so far, this evening would swing you fully into his camp.

Avid followers of mine on Facebook have already seen our pictures of this event, but the crowning glory was his contribution to Kiran who would have given her life to be there. He signed the invitation with a personalization for her after we told him that she had met him in Rotterdam in 2003, and the he agreed to speak to her by phone a couple of hours later. And to crown it all, he remembered and mentioned the meeting in Rotterdam. I think she fainted after he hung up.

Hats off Roger. We loved meeting you and will be your fans forever.

TA End of Year Party

Yesterday was the TA end year party, and I was asked to make a speech one day ahead of the party. About a half hour before we left for the party, I remembered that I had to do this and quickly scribbled some notes, which came out as below (approximately):

Gosh, this is a hard act to follow. It was always Paul's job to make a speech at parties; and Senta told me that she had done her first and last speech at Paul's farewell. Anyway, here we are. It's December and it must be a Transammonia party.

It's great to have a party each year, the only problem being that as I get older, I cannot remember the last one. Did we have a party last year? Does anybody remember? Well, the good thing about a party is that if you have had a great year you can celebrate; and if it was not such a good one, then you can still have something to cheer about. Because TA NEVER has a bad year, right? TA NEVER HAS A BAD YEAR!

The TA family is growing. I am not a great one for socializing but it's wonderful to see everyone here. It's great to have spouses here since they often make us what we are and their understanding helps us in the long hours that we put in the office and the travel that we have to do. Sometimes they even provide lunch everyday.

Chris spoke about Zurich and Prime Tower and we have indeed come full circle. I understand that some of you have seen the premises and I am sure it will be nice to be there. Of the original office in Zurich, we only have Angela, Hans-Jorg and myself left now. But the spirit of Peter is with us. I always valued my interactions with him and the memory of my last meeting with him is still fresh in my mind.

A word for the girls of Trammochem. They are absolutely wonderful and the gasoline which keeps the engine of Trammochem running. Please take a bow Patricia, Hedi, Sybille, Sylvie, Senta, Jackie. It;s also great that we have a young team now. I remember when Paul and I used to meet customers we always said how much longevity there was amongst the employees of Trammochem. Now the team is young and I am sure will take Trammochem to the next stage of evolution and development.

Thanks to Cees and his team in IT for the wonderful organization and the Rockin' Hillbillies for the music. Thanks to everyone for coming and I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas!

(And as is typical for me, I forgot to say the punch line that I had written down: Oh yes, one last thing. Can someone please remind me on Monday if we had a party this year?)