I had 2 very close friends when I was growing up in Wash DC metro area. One was Bobby and the other was Suman Cuddapah. So when we were growing up, we three would always be together almost every single weekend. If a 3 day holiday came up, we would get together at someones house for the three days. You get the picture, friends like the ones in the movie, Stand By Me. Together virtually every free moment.
Suman and Bobby know everything about me, the good, the bad, the ugly.
After we had grown up Suman chose to not be friends with me and I respect his decision. We were friends right up to the point where he got married and had a baby. He invited me over to see the baby and his new house in Potomic, MD and that was the last contact I have had with him. Ok, so I did not make an effort to keep in touch either, but I would guess that it has been 7 years since I have spoken to him.
So we come to Bobby, just like Suman he knows everything there is to know about me and we have always been close no matter what. We may not call each other for a whole year, but when we do get together it is always just Awesome! Yes we still play epic battles of RBI baseball on our old Nintendo.
Bobby is a transplant surgeon.
About 2 years ago I was looking for investors in my current company and he asked me how much I needed and I told him. Eventually he gave me a total of $105,000. To get the new company off the ground I needed every penny. This was a big deal, because he had invested in another previous business in which he lost $75,000. So I was asking him a few months back why he had invested in the new business after he lost $75,000 in a previous business with me.
Bobby told me "Vijay I invested because it sounded like you needed help."
He would go on to say that he never even read any of the business plan stuff and that he knew I would try hard, but he invested just because he thought I needed his help and he did it to help a friend.
You have to really think about someone said to really see the impact of what someone was willing to do to help you out. Here was a friend that had invested with you previously and had lost $75,000 and was still willing to invest another $105,000 to simply help you out. The type of heart that this requires is so great, I cannot even put into words. I will always be humbled by Bobby's actions, even now after so much time and I think about it, it moves me tremendously.
So recently we have been paying back the profits from the company and I had given Bobby 2 checks of $10,500 each for dividends and we will be giving his this same amount every month or every second month based on cash flow for the conceivable future. Not sure I ever mentioned this to Bobby, but it is one of the great pleasures in my life to send him the dividend check.
I hope that each of you can have a friend like my friend Bobby. People like him are special.
Bobby I love you tremendously and if you ever need anything you know you can come to me for anything. I am trying to think of someway to repay Bobby for everything he has done. I paid for a Hawaii vacation earlier this year and that was awesome, and I was thinking about a fully paid European vacation for his family and mine in 2013.
So Bobby, I will email you today, pick some dates and your family and mine are going to Europe together, fully paid by me. I know it is so inadequate for everything you have done for me, but I figured it is a start to paying you back for all the support and love you have shown me.
By the way Bobby is in my fantasy football league and he got an award for the best draft but I think in life there are periods in which luck is with you, poor guy, I have beaten him twice and enjoyed beating him both times already. Yes we are both super competitive.
