My Experiences with People - The Silent Killer

It is not so tough for 2 introverts to get along and have a great relationship, and it becomes more special when those 2 introverts are turn into extroverts when they get in a group of likeminded people. Yes, that’s what happened when Anoop and I met each other.



When I moved to EAM core team from Content Review, almost every person in the team spoke to me other than Anoop, who used to come to office give a smile and get into the system and work. The first project I worked with him was one of the BMW ads and even then he just spoke to regarding the project that’s it. But, after I spent a good amount of time in the team we managed to speak to each other more and more. One reason which made us to get along was a cup of tea in the Infy Smoke Zone where many of our official and personal talks used to happen.



At work you could see Anoop as a silent, moody, introvert and serious person and once he is out of that nut shell, you can find a totally different person – who can speak a lot and speak sense and can speak about anything under this sun but only when he knows that thing. When it is a weekend you can never find another party freak like him.



Anoop has a complex personality and it is not so easy (I would say impossible) for the majority of the people who has known him at work or in his personal work. I was lucky enough to have such a wonderful person as my friend.



He was known for his transformational thoughts, analytical skills, innovative ideas in terms of team management and his measured walk. He was the MACROMAN of the team. I have seen very few people who are crazy about excel and he is one of them who can exploit the features of Excel to the core. He infected many people with this craze in our team and I was the first victim.



There are 2 things which I was inspired by Anoop –


- Have multiple solutions for one problem and always think out of the box. Had heard in many trainings and seminars that I have attended during my college days and in Infosys. But worked with a person very closely who executed them practically.


- Talk less and Act more.



There are many things which I can keep on speaking about this person because I am one of them who have seen different faces of Anoop which many people hardly get to see.

My Experiences with People - Gopa

First day after training – we were asked to meet Eshwari in Overture floor. Robin and I with other people from out batch were there on time waiting for someone to attend us. Karthik and Steve walked in with a studious fellow – who seemed to be very boring and reserved character. He was introduced to us as Gopa Kumar who will be our Team Leader – and my first Team Leader.

Robin and I had a perception that this guy is so studious and boring, it will be very tough to work with him. For a month or so the perception remained the same until we came out of the process training. It was the time when we actually started knowing Gopa.

Result Oriented, Diplomatic and Conviction – these are the 3 features that can easily describe Gopa. He always had shown trust on his team members and has given various opportunities based on their strengths and interests. He built a team in such way that they are self-motivated and confident.

Being a Manager – he learnt every task that the team used to do. He would work on the new project first and then set a right expectation with the client and the team. There are hardly a handful of managers (new generation managers) whom I have seen or heard who would get into the level of learning the basic tasks done by an agent.

He had always come up with new strategies of team building which would both build the team as well shape an individual as a professional. When he is out of the work floor, he becomes one among us; we never felt he is a manager when we are on the Cricket Ground every Saturday.

He is very strong with his vocabulary and he had certain patented (we called them patented) expressions – one famous which I cannot resist myself from writing here is – “Compare Apples to Apples not Apples to Oranges”.

I am not sure why I am so obsessed with Gopa’s way of working, many a times when I speak to my team member I act like him (though not the fullest extent) without my knowledge. It might be because he was my first Team Leader and Manager or due to his ability to make an impression in someone’s mind.

Whatever it is, he was my first manager in my career and he is a great pleasure to work with. Thanks for those lovely memories, Gopa. Looking forward to work with you again!

My Experiences with People - She is My Guru

Her entry to the AMS team was not welcomed by many including me. Everybody started hating Gopa for getting her into the team as a team leader, even though none of us had any experience working with her. But she took it as a challenge and in a period of one week she made most of us (at least me) to change their perception towards her work.

One thing which I liked in her and even today I respect her for that one reason (there are many reasons, this is one of them) her professionalism at work. She believed in identifying a person’s strength and capitalizes on that for that person’s good as well as to the business.

She was the one who gave me many opportunities to whittle my career. She made me identify my strengths and weaknesses. She concentrated more on my weaknesses and helped me overcome those.

She was considered to be a rude person by nature because of her professionalism and straight forwardness, but I have never come across a person who could be as humane as her. She always cared for her team members’ welfare which only a few people could understand that.

She would always be there as a part of one’s grin or frown if someone likes to share with her. She always loved to see others grow in their career path and gave many of my team members many opportunities and most of them succeeded to capitalize those opportunities.

It is very rare to find such character which is a professionalism and humane at a work place, because it needs a lot of maturity in someone who can blend both and succeed in it. I consider her as a Guru for me in many aspects at work.

- People Management.
- Discipline at the work place.
- Team Work and Motivation.
- Live and Let Live.

Personally, she is a great friend of mine and is very close to my heart. She has always shown me a path whenever I was lost; she stood beside me when I had tough times and was struggling with work-life balance; appreciated the good work, and helped me to improve on areas where I was lacking. Her one smile and a couple of words were enough for me to get out of trauma.

Yes, as most of you have rightly recognised - it is Kanwal... Kanwal Khanna. Missing working you with, Kanwal!