Ganapathy Subrahmaniam and Bob Riley

00:02 My name is going to be subramanyam. I'm 41 years old. Today's date is Friday. October 29th, 2021. I am located in Bossier, City, Louisiana in the United States. Bob is the name of my recording partner and my relationship to my recording partner is a one small step of conversation partner.

00:28 And go ahead with your intro. Bob when you're ready.

00:31 When do the first one, just your neck?

00:35 Well, I know you mine. I got new glasses and I have sometimes I can, it's in between, I can see.

00:45 80 years ago or women, I was born.

00:51 A man your age and and that section.

00:54 Okay. Oh, I see that's up for there, but I can move it up here. It says, your name of your age. Okay, Bob Riley, Robert Riley.

01:04 80 years old.

01:07 And then something about my story or

01:12 Is that what you want the rest of the information? So where it says the the date and location and saying, who your recording with?

01:22 80 today's date. Just so you can say that your real quick.

01:32 And the name of my recording partner.

01:36 Okay. I'm not related to you at all. Is that what you want to know?

01:42 I was going to have to see, and that he is your one small step.

01:54 With one small step.

01:58 So the first question that I wanted to ask you all to to clarify is just what made you interested in doing it one, small step conversation with someone that you don't know.

02:12 Can I go ahead? Go ahead, go? Well, I'm an extra word by nature. Always have been, so I'm never shy around people. And I draw energy from conversations like, these, especially because I'm from halfway across the world. I like to meet people who come from different walks of life as I come from a different Walk of Life. As I find myself in the US and it just expect me to have meetings speak to people who have completely different experiences than I've had and learn more about their world. And in turn, they learn more about mine.

02:48 Okay, and then I guess I'm going I heard it. Where?

03:03 I've got this new generations that I'm trying to get along with and I thought it would help.

03:14 Eminem.

03:16 You know that.

03:19 Well, anyway, that's that's what I was thinking.

03:27 I keep repeating how old I am, but but it has a lot to do with.

03:34 I,

03:37 Things things change.

03:42 I'm just learning to accept it.

03:47 Instead of fighting it. Also I have never in my life seen so much vitriol in like the news or the

03:58 Are between people. I mean,

04:01 If people, if people know who you vote for, then it's

04:06 They just go berserk. I don't I don't think people used to go berserk.

04:12 You know, that's my experiences. And so I just like the idea of this one step that it's

04:21 Probably, every time you do it, between two different people there, be a

04:26 It make it easier.

04:30 For people to understand each other or not. Well see that the format here doesn't allow for me getting not getting up on the desk and yelling or anything. So it never gets that bad, but it doesn't families. It gets that way. I'm going to the mute button. I can get asking, sing you a song If you want to do that.

05:02 But I got my guitar over here, but I'm not going to do that today. So anyway, if you have another question, or I can pose a question to ask, supposed whatever questions after I was, just going to ask you both to read each other's bios out loud now. And then, feel free to ask questions and kind of go from there.

05:24 You guys house 80 years old went to grade school in the 40 worked, all my life US Navy veteran and I do thank you for your service Bob. I saw that and that caught my attention right away, 41 years old realtor, 56 years. Married, to the love of my life travel, the world. When we were younger played in rock and roll and reggae and Country. And church, band became born again, Christian 43 years ago, have one daughter, two grown grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Bring my wife flowers once a week, and I think that's fair to be Charming.

06:01 There's a reason for that, too.

06:08 Only one. Well I had this happened a few years ago, a good friend of mine. I was complain about my wife and and he says, did you ever sit down and do a gratitude list?

06:19 And I this is a 15 years ago. I sat down and I did this gratitude list. I got up. I drove to Safeway black flowers and took him home.

06:30 And it's

06:34 Anyway, it was, it was a good thing and

06:38 I don't know you'd really I think it I think you do a gratitude list. I don't know if you ever tried one on in any situation, but it's a powerful thing. I absolutely have it. I kind of got into a a thing about gratitude list. I started writing all kinds of gratitude list and

06:59 I had a.

07:01 Well, I'm going to church pastor gratitude list. I've got a military friend gratitude list. I even got what I would I consider what I call I got into this. You know, I don't do the all this anymore but it is for everything. But I even it it was so overwhelming for me. I had a mundane gratitude list. I would be grateful for pavement lights at night. You know, I would have went on and on like that. So it was it was a big deal when wet when I did it in Italy.

07:42 I don't know. Are you still doing but not fanatical e like I was

07:48 You ever been fanatic about anything, a few things they do in their rock and roll for one thing when I was younger and I used to dabble playing the violin some time ago, but I was still am and always will be asking a big fan of rock and roll music and don't let the demeanor fool you. I used to have hair this long when I was younger and I was a full-time rock-and-roller to college. There was one of the bad boys and I still have one and I can still play it but not I don't practice every day. So my lip.

08:43 Isn't good enough to play Anywhere, But I play with a record of CD. I mean, like, sometimes Van Morrison. I have a favorite musician, Van Morrison tonight, and I-20 albums are all like, jazz with poetry.

09:06 But I used to play violin my, my granddaughter played violin.

09:11 Anna.

09:15 She had violin lessons and then I heard about this lady Nero near us who taught the middle.

09:23 Yeah.

09:27 And so I asked her, did she say I paid for lessons week and she had country fiddle lessons?

09:34 But not that good, but

09:45 Fiddle players only play the bottom of the violin. So it's it's it's so easy, you know, if you had, I just gave away my violin a couple years ago to the local public school. Late. Orchestra wasn't playing it at all. I still have my Coronet.

10:13 I said, I gave away my cornet years ago and I went and bought another one.

10:17 Even though I do hardly play it, because it it's like a

10:22 I don't know. You just got to let it go. Where'd you play an orchestra? When I was younger, I was interested in learning a musical instrument than the one. That was most easily learned at the time because the teaching was available was the violin. I seem to be musically inclined. I'm not extremely talented by any means, but my mind works that way. So I began learning it with this teacher and then every now and then I was dabbling. It. I'm not nearly as good as I ought to be after all that practice B till I hit her tune. And it sticks with me for a while and I do want to learn how to try and play it on a keyboard or Weiland that. Give me some practice. You have a keyboard to. Yes, I do.

11:03 Okay. Yeah me and my granddaughter used to play keyboard together.

11:18 Yeah. Music, I've done some. I've recorded over 100 songs and I

11:27 30 years ago, I got pushed in airplay.

11:30 But I

11:32 Yeah.

11:34 So,

11:35 Own your

11:40 Well anyway.

11:43 Yeah, music music. Now I do art, I do.

11:48 I thought I've got over 5,000 computer art, things I do and I put scriptures on it.

11:59 And then there's a thing called mewe.com. I got out of Facebook, it, it was too greasy for me or something. But if the

12:14 You can you can link up with certain people and there's East that these Italian people that do. Okay. It's like modern art as it's like the photography is not just a nice seen, but the side of a building with shadows.

12:38 Okay, work with it to, you know, you your bring something stuff out, you can take stuff out of it.

12:45 And so it

12:50 Anyway, day.

12:52 It's fun for me because they have contests and everybody wins wants. Everybody. Actually wins. We Ann Arbor.

13:02 I think we should all have something we like to do, and I spend Lily hours is fiddling on the art part of the Photoshop.

13:28 You know, if we ever get to know each other better, I'll send you some but you do absolutely your pictures. Photoshopped. You're all over the place. I had a house. I was listing.

13:47 Really nice house with big windows. So I Photoshop the windows out.

13:52 And I put a shark in it. So it looks like there's a shark swimming in the house. Don't get a lot of the sales people away anyways, so well, the shark had a girlfriend to another fish.

14:17 It has to do with it. I mean, what do you do for fun? You know, that that's what I'm talking about. We should have some, we do that. Real estate is intense a lot of times and I have to get listings and sell the standings but you should have time wear some people like the gulf right now, but what do you like to do? I like dogs. So I love cardiovascular exercise for as many times as possible in the week. I'll just go out for a jog. I don't care what time of the day. It is, as long as it's safe to go outside in 5 minutes or something. Other than that allows me to clear my mind. It really does. And then I come back and I enjoy music and you're playing and listening to music. And I have young children there, 9 and 6. So I enjoyed playing games with them. My everyone is into chest these days so he's significantly better than I am. So you beat me almost every time but I've learned the game with him. So I've enjoyed chest for more now than I ever did before in my life.

15:18 Know I enjoy playing and running outdoors with my kids, just like the kick the ball around to go cycling or just go walking things like that. So there's a lot of outdoor activity. I love reading reading is the one thing I can do all day long. I don't care for eating. All, I need is a good cup of coffee and I can read all day long and there are days when I've had the luxury of time to do that too. So give me a good book and give me a cup of coffee and see you, but I have I like to watch Columbo TV TV shows over.

16:02 No, I never got into have I filed a 50 but I've seen a couple of episodes of Columbus and I grew up reading all of them. So yeah, and then spend it into all of her other novels to

16:36 We used to do everything, you know, but now we just like sitting at home together and then he's reading to sleep and you're not skipping to the end and making it a spoiler for her while she's in the middle of the book or something. Just to tell me to shut up and you know, she can't read it.

17:11 And we don't do much anymore. She fixed. She spends a lot of time fixing dinner and everything is organic and everything. When she grows food in the yard. We have an acre with food everywhere. Wow, that's a lot of work.

17:27 Well, we we actually pay people to help us do but still be a lot of work if I ever retire, I guess to do it, but then, when I got my business, just got big and big and big and some

17:47 She's here to make money and pay somebody right now. But but that's good. That's a good idea could be from.

18:01 Louisiana Lottery.

18:03 India.

18:06 In fact, I had a, are you had a governor from that was Indian movie. Did Bobby Jindal Edition? All right. Well, I'm not familiar with this politics, but funny story, speaking of Bobby Jindal, my wife and I ever met my wife and I and my elder child of the time, move to Louisiana in early 2014, when he was still the governor of Louisiana and pure nearby in Shreveport, Louisiana. I stopped at a gas station to fill gas in my car and then I went inside to prepay for the gas and I walk outside and I have the gentleman staring at me as I walk outside, the gas stations with my car and as I'm feeling gassy, still staring at me, but he's trying to come towards me and that put me a little on edge, but I'm still there. I'm still looking at him and then he finally comes up to me and said he asked me, are you Bobby Jindal?

19:01 No, I'm not but we didn't but I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but you should have asked for a donation. Maybe maybe in retrospect. Maybe I should have taken the conversation and see where that gets me.

19:17 You know, in my business, I have a theory that everybody doesn't like somebody.

19:22 Very good. And I once had a, I once had a client years ago. Why do we have sold over 6,000 properties in 41 years, but 41 years in

19:39 But I had to tell me several times that he was only from Northern Louisiana. I'm from North Louisiana. Not from Sudden that I'm not from down. There you go.

19:54 I never did figure out what the difference was, but there is some difference between better than significant difference. Shreveport, Louisiana. A lot of people consider is practically East Texas because where I'm sitting right now in Shreveport, Louisiana just ending my work day at my office and we are just about 10 miles from the Texas border with the state of the way. So yeah, Northern Louisiana is significantly different than Southern Louisiana. Yeah, you can only appreciate the difference if you're down here and you've seen both sides. I never got down. There was a navy 59.63 and

20:34 I got out of boot camp. They sent me to the only place I went in the South was Memphis, Tennessee, and then they sent me to Aviation Electronics School, Memphis, Tennessee.

20:58 But um,

20:59 It was a kennedy-nixon election.

21:04 And we have a TV, or read little. I don't think we quite yet library to get the news magazines. But so we're in school during the week and we're supposed to get weekends, you know, go to Memphis and do something. So, my first weekend, I'm from Seattle and I come from

21:33 West Seattle, High School is black and white people. I mean just used to it, but

21:40 So I get on the bus tonight. I'm kind of tall and I like the back.

21:47 Back seat.

21:51 But I don't know. They don't let white people sit in the back of the bus at the time. Yeah, okay.

22:00 So I go sit in the back of the bus and then that their bus stops and he says, white people don't sit in the back of the bus and it wasn't really funny at the time but it is still out there. So I get to the bus depot. In the bus depot was

22:23 The Whiteside they cleaned really good in a black side. They didn't.

22:27 It's a big building, you know, they could go out the door.

22:35 I spent less than 2 minutes in Memphis cuz I go out the door and walking down the street and black people have to get out of the way of white people. So I got back on the bus.

22:45 Never went to Memphis again, but I I spent all those weekends in the

22:54 Library, you know it was it was a lot of news, you know what Kennedy and Nixon that was a time yet, but I didn't I wasn't used to segregation. I just couldn't take it.

23:14 A little bit of a nice guy. And I I'd be so curious to hear just like about your World Views and how you shaped some of your opinions and what you've seen so far in life.

23:29 Well.

23:35 I got a psychiatrist. Tell me one time that I am an empath.

23:39 Okay, if you told me you just broke your leg, I would feel it. I would physically feel it. I wouldn't it wasn't like a broken leg, but I would feel.

23:49 When people tell me things, my wife the other day, cut her fingers doing vegetables, and when she told me and hold it up, I could feel it. But usually, in my feet and my legs, I feel it. And so wherever I go.

24:07 I carry that with me, so.

24:10 I've been to a lot of experiences of

24:14 Now, I'm up. So as a realtor.

24:19 It kind of helps because

24:22 If I told you how many kinds of people I've sold property to?

24:28 Every kind of person you can think of

24:33 And you see how I feel is I sent like a lot of people have been hurt and I can kind of sense it. A lot of people.

24:42 Like you don't seem like it.

24:45 I mean, you know, I mean everybody said bad things happen and the girl they were going to marry marry somebody else or something, but

24:55 It seems you just seem like a cheerful guy and butt.

25:09 I could tell you how I feel about them.

25:14 But,

25:16 I probably wouldn't tell you I disagree with them or anything, but

25:24 You're right about that. I've had I should say a very fortunate life so far. I come from a completely different world than you do. I was born and raised in a very densely populated city in still is one of the most densely populated cities in the world in Mumbai, India and growing up in India, regardless of whether it's a city and especially if it's the ruler. A one thing and is known for among many other things is what's called the caste system where people are divided into different social classes. If you can call it that. And I so happen to be born and you can call it the accident of birth, in one of the upper social classes in India as they call it. And that, that told me a lot growing up. I could see how people in the lower social classes were treated that regardless of where they went. And even though many people in the previous generation of my parents generation, subscribe to that mode, of thought I somehow.

26:24 Not my readings, in my learnings and my experience has told me that regardless of where in the world you go people smile for pretty much the same reasons and people cry. Pretty much the same reasons and bad things. Happen to all kinds of people and good things are going to happen to all kinds of people. So we may look considerably different from each other, but the things that make us sad happy joyful. And so on, are usually the same thing. So,

26:55 I I just treat everyone as the same regardless of whether they're rich, whether they're poor or where they come from and take it from that point on.

27:05 Yeah, like I'm a Christian. So Christians always think everybody should be Christian.

27:15 But at the same time, almost every morning.

27:21 At least 3 days a week like this morning. I went to a Bible study at 5.

27:29 And then I and then I had the Bible study. I always have extra food. McDonald's food is like for breakfast, has and a whole bunch of things like that. They weren't eaten. So I go out.

27:45 Bible study that one week but one day but I'll go buy food.

27:52 And I get to know homeless people and I have like, I have breakfast with him.

28:01 But in this case, I'm driving along. I was on my way to see this one homeless guy.

28:08 And and there was this young lady, young lady pushing a cart with all her belongings in it and staggering behind her was

28:20 Old Hawaiian guy, probably your dad or uncle or something or cousin there together.

28:28 And I, I had this food night. I stopped and I said, you guys want some food and she goes. Oh, yeah, we haven't eaten since yesterday and night. That's why I pulled over. And I gave him a bunch of stuff and and

28:45 Leah.

28:51 But I don't, I don't think I do it cuz I'm a good person. I actually I just I feel like I feel things.

28:59 I feel like, I feel like I feel I think I think people have a spirit of them.

29:05 And you can sense when somebody. So I got you a mean spirit and you just don't want to be around him or something, but

29:13 There's not many of those because most people are

29:17 If there's a problem, they're hurt.

29:19 Are they didn't?

29:22 A lot of it is drugs II counseling.

29:26 I don't know if I said in their eye.

29:30 I've done prison volunteer. I visit.

29:39 Long time ago. My wife and I did it.

29:43 Together. And then we go to the prison on Saturday every Saturday, but I see. Okay. Having more fun than a lot of Christians do.

29:59 You're quite welcome.

30:03 Just like I'm talking to you this morning to a guy in an old broken-down house. He's it's a condemned house. Okay, there's several where they go to at night and

30:20 Hawaii recently in the forms if they have a state police. Now, they never used to have it just to harass homeless people.

30:31 Anyway.

30:32 Anyways, it's so there are there off in that place is Emma. This virus hits. They close the parks and the bathrooms the where the homeless go in the bushes, right?

30:50 Running away. That's

30:53 I can get all worked up about it too. And your but what I'd rather do is this.

30:58 Sale is a lot of what I do with it.

31:02 People think.

31:06 Well, you know, I'm business. You ever do anything for free?

31:11 For somebody quite a lot. Actually. We do have to do more with less.

31:26 And end up getting Tighter and Tighter every day.

31:40 CIA.

31:45 I tell people if they find their own deal. I'll help him no charge. No other realtor. Does that.

31:51 Where you go? People say? Oh, you're a nice guy. I said, no, it's good for business.

31:58 Okay, 10 minutes. 10 minutes. Sometimes I make more money doing it for nothing. It's a truth. It's an actual truth.

32:09 The more you do free.

32:12 It comes back.

32:15 Oh, I believe it increases your reliability of on your customers and then word spreads you just you just have more clients that way. But if you go to real estate books in that, you're not taught that oh, I'm sure you're not your talk to prequalify and don't go out with anybody that doesn't have this or that but but it's opposite.

32:41 I'm glad you figured it out all by yourself. I should be so lucky as to get to ABC. Let's hope that happens in good health in one piece.

33:05 But it's a

33:10 80 weather.

33:14 Yeah.

33:16 So I never went to Mumbai. We, we travel through, we stayed in.

33:23 We were younger. We stayed in Japan for 3 months.

33:32 This one we took off in 1969. I've made a lot of money in the business. I had.

33:40 Selling merchandise is so I've always sold on commission. Okay? Before real estate of his wholesale merchandise to PX has Navy in Army PX. All right.

33:55 And so let's see. 69. We were only even 30. So anyway, so we decided just to take off for a couple years and

34:07 So we stayed in in Japan for three months hung up. Kill Joe. I don't know if you ever been to kill to know. I have not. I'm packed. I haven't been to that part of Asia at all.

34:18 It's so beautiful. I mean, Kyoto is the ancient capital and if it's all those old buildings as you spend the day, looking at Bells.

34:33 Maybe I'm biased like that. Just so old buildings that are some but a lot of them are Victorian architecture. So they're not really Asian architectural Indian with while you have a lot of the old temples gone or something. India has countless temples to be sure, but the city of Mumbai when you go and look at some of the older Legacy Buildings, they'll end up being Victorian architecture or British architect. Because India was for a significant long time, a British colony before it gained independence in 1947, but a lot of those buildings and architecture, still is very prevalent. Anyway, you going in yet even those buildings.

35:18 But Japan, see, like you're looking at these. I don't know how they go back to the Edo. Which was what? 607 and I don't know what what it was but the carpentry.

35:33 You know, our tools.

35:41 My friends in Italy, you know, they have all these old Roman buildings 85 more minutes, but it's it's just and killed. It was so much fun, but State of Mind.

35:56 Malaysia Singapore, it's been a while. But I've been there in 1989 and 1990. I was 9 years old and 10 years old at the time. It has been quite a while.

36:18 Why you'd heard of San Leon Road? I can set a member of the name, but I don't know the other one. I had a Chinese by Elena's, and I got an Australian army hat there.

36:38 One minute or somewhere else, but it's

36:56 I don't know. I don't know where I would go in Mumbai. You can probably tell me if I ever went there, but I guess what? You should give it a try. You should give it a try in this.

37:09 60s and 70s.

37:14 That's something best discovered for yourself. It really is that efficiency at its best learned that way.

37:32 Labor and stuff every reflecting on some of its own this time.

37:37 Did you ever follow any of those groups, that's one. Respect in which I differed from my parents in that mode of thought. So I would take it upon myself to read what they said. That I should read and learn that. Draw my own decisions from it. Something's I agreed with some things. I don't agree with, you know, I never followed any one particular to say that know, this one's teachings are correct doing it. And the other one wasn't been so on that. Did all right in some respects and they're all wrong in some respects.

38:12 Well, a lot of the lot of the stages of the of History said, a lot of the same things we did.

38:27 Interlake The Book of Proverbs. They say the song when was really a wise person. If you really study his life, it was probably his mistakes. He was talking about, you say, do this and this, this good. What happened? Don't do this or you're this bad. Bad thing laughing.

38:48 In a lot of stages of done that, you know, they

38:55 Where do they get the information?

38:59 I mean, they're like Buddha started late in life. Read it, really and then

39:04 He's, he had all these things to say but based on his own experience as I'm sure. So.

39:15 So,

39:19 Do you get really old and you get really smart and then you then you go. Well it, if you're all Lucky, we'll get really old in good health.

39:28 Or maybe a few technical guys will figure out how to get the hard drive out of the head strange stuff to up there. So

39:44 It's on the radon solve Mysteries of the human brain works.

39:49 You think it's like to run the world? Would you? Do you think you could be good at running? The world. Depends on how much they pay me to do it. It's the story regarding that. That idea you came up with you know, what they always talk about David and Goliath. He went down with a slingshot and got Goliath. If you read that whole story. He asked how much he was going to get first when it's right in the

40:28 Looks like we're at a time. I'll talk to you for a minute s s, unless there's anything you wanted to say before I turn it off.

40:41 We can we can go onto, I guess, but

40:46 Anyway, I appreciate this opportunity. Thank, you know, I appreciate it as well. Thank you so much for, thank you so much of both of you for your time.