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...