My Experiences with People: Sir is Always "SIR"

You might have already read my “Entry into Professional World”. Once I got into the Team Yahoo! We were taken to a team where everyone was working on some unique colorful tools on the computer screen and talking some rocket science. We were given some shared systems which I had to share with Robin and Shikha (the Model girl). While we were working on there was fellow, hurrying here and there and everyone called him with suffix “Sir” and I thought he is one of the senior guys.

We did something in that system which I do not remember today. Later on we were put into content review. I was getting bored doing these reviews and like an angel, Pervez Bhai came to me and asked do you know MS Excel. I said “Yes, the basics I can handle”. He did some test on my excel skills. After two days I was all of a sudden called to work with EAM team. I was introduced to the team and I was surprised to see that “Sir” had joined just 2-3 months before us. When asked Pervez Bhai about him he said, “His name is Jayaprakash, and he was a lecturer somewhere in Mangalore, so we call him Sir, JP Sir!!” The moment he said Mangalore, my heart started beating with “son of soil” rhythm. I went up to him and spoke to him in Tulu and managed to get an introduction and background. Since then we have been closely connected with each other. 

Ganesh, JP and me belonging to same district of Karnataka had shared a very good rapport and has been maintaining that rapport throughout.

JP, as a person to me is a revolutionary, rebel and speaks out his heart. May not be liked by many but I respect him for the same fact because he has proved to me that he does what he says. He sticks to his words and it makes you feel he is very stubborn.

But, the other face of JP, is only felt by very few of his team member s and peers. JP’s mild gesture towards people in trouble, fun loving guy and enjoys watching others enjoying. He is always seen like an activist, however he is the mildest person I have ever felt.

Ganesh and I have never got dual mind in sharing our problems with JP. He has been a guide for us in many ways. He has been a motivator in tough times; he has been a critic when things are not going the right way. But he has never loaded us with his thoughts.

Probably, he is also a reason for my transition from Corporate to teaching. We have had several discussions around Politics, education and social systems. These discussions ended with what are our contributions towards these? His ideas and my opinions have always matched.

I have seen his personal life and closely watched the difficulties he had. But his focus and determination to achieve goal has been spectacular in every problems he has faced; may be professional or personal.

Whenever we meet (Ganesh, JP and me), like Gannu says, we don’t have to think to start a conversation. It starts with “Bokka Vishesha, Sir?” (What news? In Tulu) and ends “Barode” (See ya). We have never found a need for any filler in conversations. Though we hardly speak to each other on calls and speak only when we meet, somewhere our hearts are connected forever.

JP Sir, You have proved the saying “Failure is the stepping stone to Success”. Because no failures could stop you from doing the right thing and you have succeeded in your life because of your efforts, focus and determination. That’s why you remain teacher besides a friend.

 You are the ROCK STAR of Life and keep it ROCKING!!

My Experiences with People: Jack Of All - Master of the Most - Gannu

You call him genius and he means exactly what you call him! He call him fool – he will make you laugh!! You have questions – He has answers! You have confusions – He can confuse you to that extent that you will be feared to get confused anymore!

Everything he does he does with lot of effort and learns everything he does. Don’t be surprised to see him become “Ghajani”. He might ask you what’s your name frequently though he knows you from last 7-8 years. He might have forgotten your name but will not forget your personality.

He enjoys every moment and makes you part of his joy. He is my “Raj Kapoor” of Mera Naam Joker. He never reveals the pain hidden in heart! Probably very few has seen him crying and actually I feel good that he has considered me to be one amongst them with whom he can share his sorrows.

A person with a funny gesture has a serious philosopher in him and has seen the scariest face of the life many times but still has enjoyed every part of his life the he wanted. A craziest fellow I have ever met who can do anything to make his surrounding laugh and fill it with joy. 

A foodie who always drops into restaurants and gives you his reviews in such a way that you would really like to go and try it out. I remember we both had several varieties of mocktales in “Sahib Sindh Sulthan” of Forum, Bangalore and we spent around 15 minutes in the washroom.

I have seen in him growing from an “awful” photographer to an “awesome” photographer in no time with regular practice. And this attitude of his actually inspires me. He doesn’t care whom he is approaching to learn things. He just wants to learn new things everytime.

Personally, even today I am unable find an answer to this. Is he blessed to have a mom like his mom or was his mom blessed to have a talented son like this? What I can say is that they complimented each other. All qualities I see in him are, I am sure, are inherent from his mom and sadly she is no more with us but she will remain a part of my memories.

I haven’t spoken to him for a while now. Still I remember him every moment because he has let mark in my life which cannot be erased so easily. He has always been a well wisher for me, a friend in need, emotional backup, a good colleague, a stress buster and of all A VERY GOOD FRIEND for lifetime!

He is none other than – Gannu: Ganesha Sundar Rao V! Love you Bro!! Keep Rocking!!!

My Experiences with People : Swe...

I don’t remember exactly when I met her. But she came into our Process as a team leader of media ops team. When she came in it never made me feel any change in the floor. I just felt she is just another team leader on the floor. Even today I don’t remember exact place and time or date how we got to know each other so well. Probably Robin was the one who introduced us.

What I remember is there were many good looking, gorgeous or beautiful girls in the team and always enjoyed looking at them during the breaks.;-) Once we were introduced to each other, there was no one who could stop us from knowing each other.

Every day, we would go to the Café Coffee Day in the Infosys campus or the Terminal food court, have some tea or coffee or some snacks and talk all possible gossips. I would take the topic to Politics which I love the most and she hates it the most. Every month at least once we would visit the Subway and relish the subs there. When we had known each other so well the time had come to depart and I chose to get transferred to Delhi. But the distance could not be a barrier. We would call each other at least once a week and speak for hours together. Many a times my roommates felt that I am speaking to my girlfriend.

We both shared every happenings of our life, good, bad, personal or impersonal. Whatever that comes to our mind we would share with each other. There is not a single day that we have not fought. Our conversation would be incomplete without a “Thu” from her.

She is such a great friend to me that I would not afford lose her and I found her in Infosys. She is none other than “Swetha N Kadam”.

As a colleague, she has always shared her views on team management and as a veteran to me in management has always guided me in my managerial actions whenever I have asked for a help.

Most important role she has played in life is in the form of Critic. Probably her blunt criticisms have honed my personalities to this extent. Many a times before taking a decision I would think if Swetha was here what would be her question to me and what would I answer to her?

As I said earlier, we shared every aspect our life and she was always a support throughout my tough times in my personal life. Supported in every step I took and cautioned when it was a wrong one. Even when I decided to quit the job get into higher studies, she posed as many questions as possible which would come in my student life and ensured that I am ready for any kind of troubles I would be facing.

Swetha – a character in my life which gave many special moments but what I learnt professionally is “Work-Life Balance”. Personally, everyday is a new learning with her.

Even today we both use ourselves as punching bags and stress busters and Vijay, the Virus joins with us. Vijay will be a part of coming episodes.

Love you Buddy! Sorry, but could not resist from sharing this precious part of my life in this blog. And the worst part is that we have never a clicked photo together!!

My Experiences with People - Dipti Mu

Dipti Mu.. Our loving Haddi, Haddu, Bhootni… ;-)

When she came into Infosys, she joined as an executive for AMS team which was about to launch as a Super Power. Very talkative and enthusiastic girl had created a doubt in my mind, will this girl sustain the work pressure. Anoop was the SME for West AM Support team and I was the senior most member of the team. Dipti, Noor, Vinod KK, Vinod Pagadala, Sheetal Kadam, Vrida Ullagaddi and some more had joined the AMS team. The team had grown to 40+ from 10 and cruising with new milestones to be set. I was known to be the “Khadoos” by my team members for my serious gesture and attitude. I was being too tough on them when they were in the training period. 

Dipti, though was very casual, found to be fun loving and jovial character was very serious with her work. In a short time, she proved her potential and won everyone hearts. On the day of Raksha Bandhan in 2007, she came with a rakhi and asked if she can tie it to me. Normally, I never value these “Rakhi Relationships” having witnessed several “drama” about it and never accept any rakhi from anyone other than my sisters. But, when Dipti came to me and said she wants to tie rakhi to me, I offered my hands to her rakhi without even thinking for a moment. There was some aura that covered me at that moment.

Since then, every Raksha Bandhan, she sends me a Rakhi wherever we are and ensures that I have received it. Yesterday, 14^th July 2013, on the occasion of her wedding, there was a ritual where, the bride is to be escorted by the brother to the room for getting ready. In spite of her brothers’ presence, she asked me to escort her and her mom insisted too. That was a heart touching moment for me and I was literally speechless. She has given me a moment which I never expected in my life.

One thing I learnt from her is to keep in touch with everyone anywhere you are, but haven’t been successful till date. I really wonder how she could do it this long. Her blunt words and emotional support to friends when needed makes everyone miss her in her absence. One can hate her but cannot ignore her.

Behna – You are really a gift from the God. Love You! Wish you a Happy Married Life!!!

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!