Nostalgia is a funny thing. Sometimes it evokes a smile or even better, laughter. That's what happened when Anand Mahindra recalled the time he met Bill Gates, during the latter's first trip to India.
In a series of tweets, Anand Mahindra recently narrated the story of how Bill Gates and he used to be classmates at Harvard College, and when his daughter said, "What a loser you are a dad!"
It all began when a Twitterati named Ramesh Babu shared a black and white picture of Anand Mahindra and Bill Gates that he saw in the Netflix documentary: 'Inside Bill's mind: Decoding Bill Gates'. He asked Anand Mahindra about the topic of discussion between the two.
Got to see while watching ‘Inside Bill’s Brain - Decoding @BillGates ‘ in @netflix. What was the intense discussion all about @anandmahindra ? When and where did this happen? Seems historic indeed. pic.twitter.com/mbFW6MVT41
— Ramesh Babu (@rameshbabua) December 21, 2019
Responding to him, Anand Mahindra revealed that the meeting happened in 1997, where a photographer from 'Fortune' magazine was also present.
Haven’t seen the series..Didn’t know this pic was flashed in it. Thank you for sharing, because this meeting was in ‘97 during Bill’s first ever trip to India & I had no record of it since there were no cell cameras at the time..Just a photographer from Fortune(?) magazine (1/4) https://t.co/StLthh0Kcr
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 24, 2019
He also added that Bill Gates and he started studying at Harvard College in 1973. When Gates came to India, the Microsoft team arranged a meeting between them because Mahindra & Mahindra was one of the first adopters of WindowsNT. "Not because we were classmates," he humourously added.
Bill started at Harvard College the same year I did (‘73) and famously dropped out to start Microsoft. But the Microsoft team didn’t request this meeting because we were classmates; they asked to meet us because M&M at that time was one of the 1st adopters of WindowsNT 4.0 (2/4) pic.twitter.com/a8n4dOgLA7
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 24, 2019
Funny story from that meeting: When Bill entered, he said “So I believe we were at Harvard at the same time?” I said ‘Yes, we never met, but I have a grudge against you.’ His team froze, thinking they had arranged a meeting with a wacko! (3/4) pic.twitter.com/LH3UBdelNp
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 24, 2019
In the next tweet, he revealed the interesting story of his 'grudge'. When Bill Gates entered the room, he asked “So I believe we were at Harvard at the same time?” to which Mahindra said, "Yes, we never met, but I have a grudge against you."
Bill kept his cool & asked “Why the grudge?” I replied: ‘My daughter asked which of my college classmates were now famous & when I told her your name, she said:’What a loser you are Dad!’ So thanks to you, I’ll always be a loser to my kids!’ We had a big laugh at that..(4/4)r pic.twitter.com/6ahkLwNqUm
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 24, 2019
A calm and composed Bill Gates asked, "Why the grudge?". Anand Mahindra, "My daughter asked which of my college classmates were now famous & when I told her your name, she said: "What a loser you are Dad!’ So thanks to you, I’ll always be a loser to my kids!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, laughter ensued between the two business magnets.
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