Hi All,

I dont know whether you all are aware. For those who are not, let me tell you that today is my last working day
in Tech Mahindra. Some people have felt that I dont talk much or dont socialize. So I thought I would just
share some memorable moments I had in Tech Mahindra with you people in writing at least. I have had some
real good and some bad times here. I would cherish all this and more while I leave. But Ill definitely miss my
team.
It has been quite a long time here. From the ITP training in Chennai to Antillia Development and Design in
Mumbai. Pretty much a long journey, though times seems to fly fast. It has been 2 whole years after joining
Tech Mahindra. The Initial Training Program was a fantastic experience. I never thought professional training
would be so much of fun. Probably my ITP mates and the staff made it fun. I really enjoyed it and even made
great friends. It is from there that I learnt that hard work and dedication helps you achieve what you want.
Even though every one in the ITP batch was from different colleges, the class had a great aura; a fun
element; a college away from college. Daily bike ride from our appartment to training centre, attending classes
even when we were completely drenched in the rain, weekly exams, all crash courses then the superb
behavioral training and finally the accent training. All so quickly completed in a period of 3 months. The daily
veg sandwiches, in the hope of controlling blood cholesterol. And how I struggled to score thinking that I would
get posted in the place I desired if I did well(which never happened J). The ESG head, though very strict at
times, was really a sweet person, who along with his team kept following up for project allocations, when some
of us didnt get allocated. The days which I got a feeling Oh! This is what you call being on bench.. Some of
our friends were lucky enough to leave a few days earlier than us.
But that didnt last long. The postings came all of a sudden and the ESG tried getting us tickets, but could
make it only for sleeper class in trains. Then came the long, scary but funny train journey. Scary and funny,
both because of the special community of people who appeared at times, with a special hand clapping
gesture. The Hijada community kept coming in for their days collection. That was when we kept running to
the train toilets to hide away from the Hijada/Hijara who kept threatening that they would show us something
that we hadnt seen till then. I do remember some guys and girls giving large denominations of notes to the
special people to escape from their threatening act. And then after some hide and seek we finally reached
Mumbai. We thought Mumbai was this special communitys head quarters.
But things werent the same here in Mumbai after reaching Dadar station. A bus took us to a 4 star hotel near
in Saki Naka. We hadnt even started working for the company but we were put up at a 4 star hotel. But then,
the rooms booked for us werent empty and we rested in a conference room. And got our rooms only the next
morning. We thought it was for free. But we ended up paying INR 16k as room rent for 4 days(we had just 4
days to find new homes), which could be reimbursed provided we hadnt reimbursed anything in Chennai. Sad
for some people who couldnt reimburse, they never got the moneyJ(Im among those poor few). We laughed it
off, since nothing could be done about it. Strange expensive hospitality we got here.
The house hunt was truly challenging. I guess project work is much more easy here in Mumbai. Huge
brokerage and a lot of negotiations, finally found a place to stay, after paying a huge sum as an initial deposit.
Again taking loan from parents, too bad the company has no provision for interest free loans in such cases
unlike companies like Wipro, even after so many years. Thank God our parents were kind and yea, rich too.
Then the project, the first mentor, the first assignment, great learning. The managers, the team leaders, the
team members, the new faces to me who were actually old faces in the project. Then began another roller
coaster ride. Full of problem solving, filling the gaps in component design by exploring in and out of Geneva
tables, writing pl/sql procedures, packages, Unix shell scripts, search for OCI (which we realized almost no one
in tech m was good at it), Pro C. Then started sleepless nights, over night and back to back working days,
toiling on weekends also. But we always made the deliveries on time with minimal defects on E2E. It was
difficult to make things happen, but it is here that I learnt that you can make apparently impossible things
The last mail I sent from Tech Mahindra..
happen, even if everything goes against you, by just sacrificing a little more of your time and that there is
really nothing thats impossible. Then not to forget our tiny celebration committee and the small celebrations,
experimenting new flavors of cakes for every new occasion, buying the right gifts and posing for memorable
momentsJ. Then suddenly a break from this schedule came as a temporary transfer to Pune.
In Pune was the beginning of the Colocation experience. Ultimate team work, exemplary co-operation between
vendors and teams from different vendors, diplomatic arguments, daily defect calls, playing tennis with
defects, the funny blame games, tracking and monitoring defects and sending out reports when requested,
client parties where the client sits and boozes with you and yes most importantly really nice friends there in
Colocation. That was where I learnt that team work can be really beautiful if everyone is ready to contribute
and be a part of the team, without boundaries or discrimination based on companies. It was a true learning
experience. But yes there was no escape from the little bit of our usual development work from there also. Oh!
Forgot to mention, the tummy Punjabi chulha paranthas, only those working in Pune Gigaspace would know
that lovely place where you get delicious food. I almost had my lunch everyday from there.
After a short span of approximately 4 months there in COLO, I got back to my base location and again
continued the same old story. And in the mean while came in some awards and appreciation. Thanks to all the
opportunities that I got during my work here. Then a small IDU picnic after such a long time (probably 18
months of no outing), loaded with fun, Thanks to our HR, we finally made it. Then one day, after contemplating
a lot, I felt, I should change my routine and get back to school and add a little more value to myself.
This is just a beginning of a new chapter, the continuation of an old journey, in pursuit of the better.
Ive met and interacted with several people during my tenure here. The brief description of my journey so far,
would become really huge if I listed all the names. It is rightly said, that in the story of life, your character
meets and interacts with several other characters, who either stay with you or move in different directions. But
their roles in your life whether significant or not, every character has something new to teach you. Thats very
true, everyone Ive worked with has taught me something new. Like how to be sweet to others even when
others are not, how to be shrewd, how to talk, how to shout out issues, how to be assertive, how to code
better, how to handle stress, how to answer questions, how not to spend unnecessarily, how to motivate
yourself even when you are in the deepest of troubles and much more. Ive been molded into a better being
after my stay here. Im really grateful to all of you for that. And yes not to forget the tremendous amount of
support Ive received from my managers, senior managers, team leads and team members. I never thought I
would have a friendly environment here, but Im really glad to say, I never felt difficult to approach anyone
here. You all have been so amiable and kind enough to help me in some way or the other. Ive really felt that
my stay here was worth while.
I will definitely not forget the lessons learnt. I truly enjoyed working with you all and will remember all of you till
the end. And I hope my tiny little contributions here will be of some help.
I sincerely apologize in case Ive hurt anyone of you, at any point of time. Arguments and debates are one of
the best ways to learn new things. I just hope I havent argued too much.:)
The world has become very small due to the technological revolution. Im on Orkut, Facebook, Linkedin and
Flicker. You just have to search my name on those networks. Since my name is pretty unique so youll find me
easily. So no excuses at all for not keeping in touch.:)
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to be here with you and work here in the team that has been
continuously awarded and praised as the best team: ANTILLIA. What ever Ive been able to learn from here, is
because Ive been a part of this team. And of course the ITP helped me refresh what I had almost forgotten
after college.
Its pretty hard for me to say good bye, so I would part now, by just telling, see you all again someday.
Yours sincerely
Eakan Gopalakrishnan
Posted 17th August 2010 by Eakan Gopalakrishnan
Labels: india, IT companies, outsourcing industry, tech mahindra

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Nirav March 15, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Really awesome and informative for freshers like me.... thanks
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