“ Welcome to Hyatt Regency, Dean Menon ...” as she said these words, the doe eyed receptionist must have suppressed her surprise. She was perhaps expecting a bespectacled scholarly old man with tousled Einsteinian white hair, dressed in a sharp suit...but here is a rotund figure with a disarming smile attired in a crumpled T shirt and a matching trousers...hardly your archetype of Dean and Professor at Loyola University, Chicago. But for us who have known Goutham from our college days, it’s hardly a surprise. Even today, I could swear that the smiley emoji you see everywhere in your WhatsApp messages and FB 'Likes ' is a photoshopped image of Goutham’s cheerful visage. Minutes later in strode Squadron Leader Unni Nair, dressed every bit -as a squadron leader. With the Indian Air-force insignia on his cap and his name emblazoned on to his crisply ironed out full-sleeved shirt. The said receptionist would have saluted him even before he reached the reception ...