A trip down the memory lane

As I write this article, I am bogged down by the fact that this is my last article from my current employer’s office. I am having all kinds of mixed feelings and thats when I decided to go down the memory lane and rewind my experience over the period I was in WIT

When I joined WIT straight from school, as with any kid who goes to his first job, I was inundated with a zillion expectations; some unrealistic, some plainly dream-like. I landed in Pune, my first sojourn in North India, and was readily comfortable with the home-like atmosphere at Pune and the amazing group of people I met there. I remember feeling a little lost amidst what was happening around me. It definitely did not help that I knew only one word in Hindi then (‘acha’). When I think about those days, I feel I had not had it any better ever since my sweet days at school. The day usually started with a quick breakfast of vada pav and tea or poha. At about 9am the training sessions start and continue till about 6pm. After a break of about an hour it was back to some intense learning till midnight. It helped that the BPO was in the same campus as our office; spurned on by some strong ‘personalities’ we used to take a walk around the campus in the midnight. After a tiring and a very ‘refreshing’ walk at the same time, it was back to more learning till 3pm. At 3pm, the ever courteous taxi driver used to drop us off at our boarding places. At 8am, the same cycle starts again. In the middle of all this, we managed to spend some real time in having fun and getting to know each other quite well. A group of 40 strangers at the beginning of the training session gelled together into a nice group of friends. Just when we were getting to settle into our work life, after a really strenuous testing sessions that is, the batch was unfortunately split and I had to come to a place that I hated and still hate – Bangalore.

My first memories in Bangalore are the excellent company that I got from my room mates and our experiments in cooking. The potato fries that I learned from one of room mates is my first true lesson in cooking and I have to admit, that guy’s wife has a bright future. About this time, I procured my first property (a cell phone) and ended up buying a huge liability in the first month itself (a huge phone bill). The days were spent floating in the free pool and I was beginning to worry about my career. By a stroke of luck, I was able to enter the internal sales team of my practice and that was the one of the defining moments in my time in WIT. The day I moved into the team, I was overawed by the kind of exposure that it bought. The very idea of talking to all sorts of senior managers who have got on an average 5-8 years of experience was intimidating to start with. This event triggered one of the most productive months for me and I was truly working like a man obsessed.

If I am going to see my time in WIT in various phases, I think the second phase started with the takeover of my team by a new guy. Now, this guy proved to be one the most interesting leaders I have worked with and is a mentor to me in more ways than one and a very good friend indeed. This phase was characterized by my growing association with WIT’s dormitory and late night conference calls. It was fun, more so, because I had this feeling of empowerment, the feeling of really getting into the thick of things and getting things done. This phase was made sweeter by the mundane idiosyncrasies that my mentor exhibited which often had my team roaring in laughter. If I say that I had fun with him, trust me, it’s an understatement.

Then came the defining moment that made me realize that one has to love the job rather than his employer. After about a year in the sales team, I was, under the pretext of illogical arguments forcibly moved into a maintenance project. The day this was formalized, I was spewing venom at one of my manager. I realized over time that he was only doing his job when he had to, well, con me into a project that was earning revenue for WIT. If not for the project team, I would have put in my papers immediately and would have probably risked joblessness for sometime. When I moved into the project, I was a little appalled by the fun-less work environment. Fortunately, I found out that guys around here were only looking for an excuse for having fun and we soon found excuses abound everyday. The highlight of this final phase was our trip to Savandurga, trying to climb rocks and do the impossible.

As I was thus taking a trip down the memory lane I felt myself riding a wave of mixed feelings. One instant, I was elated to go for a role that I thought would be better for me in the long term scheme of things. The next instant, I was worried that I was leaving behind a big brand and a wonderful team. But hey, a man’s got to do what he has got to do. Probably the best compliment I received at the end of this eventful tenure was that I made things happen. With the feeling of having been a change agent, I embark on my next assignment...

To Savandurga and back

On the fourth of December, 2005 my little team decided to take some time away from work and visit Savandurga. What a day it turned out to be...read on to find out how the day turned out to be.

First, a dose of history to start with. Savandurga - a little hamlet set in an indyllic milieu has etched itself a place in history as a formidable fortress during the times of the Magadi rulers, the Kempegowdas in the 17th century. In fact, Savandurga was the secondry capital of the Kempegowda empire. The topography of the hamlet is such that there are actually two hills that is separated by a deep valley; the one inundated with vegetation is called the Karigudda or the black hill and the other, the balder one, is called the Billigudda, the white hill. We later came to know that, we had climbed the Billigudda hill, a solid rock mountain of approximately 1280 feet. At the base of the Billigudda hill is the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple - a famous diety in the region.

Our day began with our communion at the Madiwala office of our company. Thats when, I got another affirmation of girl power. Its amazing how a single lady can derail the well laid plans. Along came two of our team members, atleast a half hour late. We said to ourselves that these things are bound to happen (we had to, we had no other alternative) and started our journey to Savandurga about 45kms enroute to Magadi from Bangalore.After exercising our vocal cords (its a debate whether we were singing or screaming...well, it doesnt matter, does it?) playing antakshari, we stopped at an amazing place where we had this first view of the western ghats.

Breakfast consisted of one of the best kesaris that I have ever had along with hot pongal and yummy chutney. During breakfast, we deciphered the way one of our team member walks (one step and then kick the air with the other leg). Egged on by a wonderful breakfast, we renewed our screaming (singing) session and reached ground zero at about 0930. As we alighted from our transport, we were taken in by the wonderful sight that was awaiting us. The subtle layer of dew on the grass lighted up the atmosphere with its purity. We felt as if milky snow has melted and fell on our laps. After the initial instructions from Dev, our instructor, we started our ascent up the 1280 feet Billiguda.

As we ascented up hill, we relished the breathtaking views that the hill provided of Bangalore and its surroundings. We had a feeling that, as we continued on our ascent, the clouds were beckoning us into their fold. Yes, we were right amongst clouds and our insensate minds that were already 'bug'ged gradually opened up to Mother Nature. Slowly, the sensation of soaring consumed us and we forgot all the 'bugs' that awaited us on our return. The terrain was quite slippery and after many a pitstop, we reached the peak and gave company to the desolate yet majestic Nandhi at the summit. The majestic Nandhi was staring at wilderness and I was secretly envious of the Nandhi. But, thats besides the point. The summit offered some interesting snaps for the trigger-happy cameraman (Click on "Picturesque" to view the victims of this shooting)

Having recharged our batteries at the summit, we reached ground level at about 1400 and were all set for a much awaited lunch. Lunch was roti, aloo mutter, veg pulao, peas masala and curd rice along with assorted condiments. We all had quite a heavy lunch and I must tell you, anything vegetarian and edible at the time would have been a feast for us. We all hogged as if we have never seen food in days and were pretty much tired after the lunch session.

Post-lunch is when we realised that we were in for the surprise of the day. Cave exploration sounded so glamorous when we first organized this trip; at the end of it, cave exploration is anything but glamorous. After walking through a thicket of bushes that adorned the windy forest path, we reached the mouth of the cave. At the mouth of the cave we realised that, we had to do anything and everything BUT walking to explore the cave; crawling, jumping, sliding and hanging were the principal modes of transport! There was this point where we almost gave up. There was a huge stone standing in the middle of the path. There was no way around it, except over it. And to climb over the rock, we had no other alternative but cling on to a small bark of a tree that was way out of our reach. As if to make matters worse, if we succeeded in pulling ourselves up the rock, there was no place to rest our feet at the other end of the rock...instead, we had to jump across a gap that was large enough to take a man in vertically. Whew! Boy, did we make it?! After squeezing through narrow crevices the size of a mammoth dictionary, after crawling through a gap where we had to literally move our ass to get to the other end and after jumping across an abyss that was seemlingly endless, we reached the end of the cave and emerged at the other end. We were 'over the moon' and were happy that we made it this far. This was when someone reminded us that we had to return down the same path in the darkening evening. After a a similar strenuous journey, we returned to humanity and heaved a sigh of relief.

At the end of the day, I was reminded that

1. Most of the time, impossibility is what we maketh of our imagination when reality is very much possible
2. Mind - its very presence and strength is what separates the winner from the loser
3. If I can climb a rock hill without any harness and explore a dangerous cave without any eventuality, I can pretty much do anything once I set my mind to it.