Rainbows in my Clouds by Radhika Lee

Author:Radhika Lee [Lee, Radhika]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-25T10:16:27+00:00

In late April that year, Ashwin and I were invited to attend yet another Apple conference by John Couch, the Vice president (Education) of Apple Inc. himself. I had wanted Ashwin to experience what I had in 2007, so we planned to go to Geneva and later visit friends in Vienna and Budapest as well.

Once again, the conference was quite a revelation. After the last time I already knew a number of people and there were many familiar faces. I met John and his wife Taira, Gordon Shukwit, Marco Torres and Nigel Barlow once again. Then we met Janet Wozniak, wife of Steve Wozniak, the Co-founder of Apple. If you were unaware this fact, one would look at Janet and think that she is just another intelligent, down-to-earth, jovial American girl. Such was her humility and disposition.

It was a time when a whole lot of unbelievable things happened. It was as if the stars were alligned and everything plotted to make this an incredibly memorable time for the two of us. Like fate had decided that after all the hard work, we needed a treat! Already I was thrilled beyond words that Ashwin and I were in Geneva, at the Novotel, overlooking Lake Genève and the snowcapped Alps.

The opening ceremony was at the Cern and to my great delight and surprise, John made a special mention of us in his welcome speech. At the conference, we made a lot of friends and networked the best that we could. We met the boss of the Switzerland Apple office, Robert Tissot, Stephanie from the US office and Richard Tscharner, the investment banker turned photographer and art collector. There were many brilliant and amazing people. I have always loved the part when you make a new friend – when you introduce yourself or when someone introduces himself or herself to you; to uncover shared interests, concerns, to discover a connect. All my life I have loved to meet people. Here, with people from all over the world sharing their lives, their stories… it was truly a thrilling experience. I was in my element.

The day before the conference ended, all delegates received invitations to a special thank you dinner. As the numbers were large this time, Apple had decided to divide everyone into smaller groups to be hosted by someone from the Geneva office. Ashwin and I received our invites for dinner at the Grand Kempinski, but in the afternoon I was called aside by John’s secretary Melanie, who told me to wait with her as John wanted to talk to me and had asked her to locate me. In seconds, he called on her iPhone and she passed the call to me. “Radhika, instead of joining the rest of the group at Kempinski tonight, Taira and I would like for you and your son to join us for dinner. Someone will come to pick you both from the hotel lobby at 7 pm. Would that be okay with you?” My heart was in my mouth as I managed to say, “Yes, of course John, that is perfectly fine.

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