Explanation:
They are the author's memories and impressions with the man he based Life of Pi off of. If you read the introduction(which is all in italics) he talks about how he came to write the book, and one thing the author mentions is the first meeting of real-life Piscine.
The father is the one who is talking
Some quality of a good advertising slogan, you would want your advertising to be pithy, short, excitable, and fun. You also want your message to be clear and concise, and not vague. You don't want any out dated or old information, you also may want to avoid anything too wordy or long because it can get confusing.
