To the next step....

Not often does one experience something as enigmatic - a moment when time comes to a standstill, when the mind and soul break free and transcend into the vast expanse of eternal bliss; a time when words lose their meaning, a time when you want to say so much and yet words fail you. Today is such an occasion for us (Anil, Lalit, Chatty, Patidar, Neeraj and me). We have been waiting for this day since a time that seems so distant like the start of our lives.

Two years back, on the same day, we embarked on a journey – one that would decide our career, and the course that our lives would eventually take afterwards. We joined the L&T family. With an organization that is undoubtedly at the pinnacle of India’s manufacturing industry, we thought God could not have been more benevolent to us. And we were right. In retrospect, we have reasons to believe that two years of our lives were indeed well spent.

It has been a terrific journey so far – one with so many interesting twists and turns. There were moments of glory as there were instances of regret. But the important thing is we enjoyed every bit of it. The myriad birthday parties with our proprietary “cake-painting” on the birthday boy’s face, the incredibly funny stories we cooked up to cover Lalit’s recurring absences, Patidar’s on-the-spot one-liners that would dumbstruck everyone to the hilt, and our endless discussions about one novel person named “NM” – life was an ice-cream of many flavors. Everything was not rosy though, and one thing that always played spoilt-sport was one lousy “Pipeline” - one that contained all the projects in the world (strangely the pipeline was one of a kind and only L&T had access to it). We used to stare into it with expectant eyes hoping something to come out of it, and more often than not, it disappointed. Thus there was a perennial drought in the river which is more often referred to in corporate terms as “Projects”. Nevertheless, we never cared. Lalit, who is undoubtedly the Einstein in JAVA, got busy creating something that would allow us to access sites which our proxy server would never allow (of course, it was an initiative that he took to get round the problem of not being able to view Vidya Balan’s and Katrina Kaif’s wallpapers - sorry Lalit, I have let your secret out). Chatty on the other hand, hardly gave a damn - he made the telephone his best friend, and whenever he got bored with it he had the gymnasium to fall back to. And Anil, well, he made it a point to ask the office boy for a new notebook - every single day. He scribbled and scribbled untill the notebooks were teeming with motley technical jargons. The days wore on and turned into months and months into years but his collection of notebooks never stopped growing. I was the one entrusted with the most daunting task among all – deal with the one called “NM”.

Like I said, we had our share of joys and sorrows and we have embraced them with dignity, élan and poise. Another milestone, and perhaps the most important one, is that the 2 year bond that we signed prior to joining the organization stands invalid today. This in itself is a culmination of our long cherished desire to be free, to be able to exercise our own will, to know that we matter and more importantly the legitimization of our right to choose what is best for us. The journey will continue, and so will we. May be, we will part ways, each taking a different route. But whatever we do, wherever we go, there will always be something which will symbolize our connection and togetherness - the fact that we all started from the same point.

Time to raise a toast, fellas…

From left: Chatty, Anil, Lalit and me....

Dil Chahta Hai, Kabhi Na Beete Chamkeele Din
Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Na Rahein Kabhi Yaaron Ke Bin
Din Din Bhar Ho Pyaari Baatein
Jhoome Shaame, Gaaye Raatein
Masti Mein Rahe Dooba Dooba Hameshaa Samaa
Humko Raahon Mein Yoonhi Milti Rahein Khushiyaan

Dil Chahta Hai.........