A nice man to know...

Simple, suave, demure, yet firm and determined is how I would describe his personality. Not an iota of arrogance for being in a senior position is also something I observed. Always available, approachable, and helpful with suggestions and always willing to go that extra mile with anyone He saw struggling to meet their deadlines. Right from when we had our introduction round with him, I observed how simple He was in his speech, tastes, and ambition.

When He joined, He was assigned a glass covered cubicle. Never did we see his door closed except when we had our client calls. Never interfered in anyone’s style of work, but knew exactly where to intervene and bail out the hassled PMs or the team in general. He knew the status of each project, and sometimes it was embarrassing for the PM for not remembering the details.

We had this marathon meeting while it rained outsid. After sometime we saw him enjoying the view outside. And his remark made us all smile: “I wish I was at home with my wife and kids, and have hot samosas.”

We saw him watching us every day: standing with a little drooping head and with the bridge of his black framed eyeglass on almost the tip of his nose. While we thought he was watching us, it was just his style of thinking about some issue.

One day while leaving for home I saw him watching people from his cubicle. I approached him and after exchanging small pleasantries, enquired about his adjustment to the new city. We had a one and a half hour long discussion that day. And after the discussion was over, I realized I did not feel as if I was talking to a senior person. I didn’t had to be careful in what I said. He made us all feel so comfortable.

He moved from Mumbai to Delhi because He wanted to be nearer home. And while his homebound journey from Mumbai was regular, from Delhi it dwindled. He once told me that someday soon he wanted his family and parents to live together, longer than the short vacations. He had identified few houses in Chandigarh where He wanted his parents to shift, but his mother would reject all because of some reasons or the other. He finally bought one without letting her know, and then they had no choice. But still they have not lived together for long – not sure even in that house.

I gave him a rare honor of being the only one in his professional career with whom He has had the maximum arguments – He told me that angrily! I am aggressive, I agree.

One-to-one discussions with him on how extended team members were not cooperating or not working as per the requirements always made him angry on them, but the same angry person would handle those miscreants in such a polite way that it was interesting and at times frustrating. At the end He would get work done.

Once I received a mail from him which was something like, “change the background color of your mails, they appear as dry as your life.” I could not stop laughing. He was referring to the dirty brownish or yellow color background which my team member had selected for her outgoing mail messages – I had just forwarded the mail to him.

No sign of arrogance: in the lunch room when a SPM wanted to know how He had calculated certain effort, and knowing that it was incorrect, the SPM said, “that’s the wrong way to calculate,” He simply asked what the right way was! We were shocked at the audacity of the SPM, but it did not bother Him a bit.

His monthly team time was a mix of fun and serious data sharinh. He would take the pains of creating charts and clearly mentioning figures pertaining to defects, and other performance related issues. The meetings always ended with a McDonald Burger or samosa party. Sometimes He would go out and get Lays chips for him and shared with people who flocked his workstation. I once saw him having a five star or some chocolate bar – “I am feeling dull, this is to energize my spirits” He said.

During SMRs He used to be a hawk. One glance at the figures and He could tell where we were wrong, and then provide solutions as well. He never had any hassles attending any meetings organized by anyone and anywhere – walking from Minerva to Building 1 or 2 or 4 was not a problem. So what if He was a senior, He was more focused on the work rather than the trivia of his being senior.

He used to be the last one to leave office, almost every day. But He would make up for all the long stays away from family on weekends. I remember He took his son for an excursion to the Balban ruins near Qutub area. I am sure his son will always remember that time when dad was there for him.

It’s been a pleasure knowing and working with Him.