CHAPTER 8 - First Day at Work, and After

Satyam was in every way a dream company to work with. Back in the heydays of the late 1990s, life in the metropolis was peaceful and lovely, and going to work every day was a joyful expedition in itself. Hardly have we, late 1990s software professionals, seen anything remotely as a traffic jam or crowded roads and even crowded sidewalks and suffocating pollution in the streets of the City of Pearls.

Back in the halcyon days of the laidback lifestyle here, you could reach anywhere in the city within just 30 minutes. Reaching anywhere within 30 minutes is by far one of the great necessities of modern life, and the City of Pearls had that as an innate trait in itself. But alas! Not for long, it stayed that way.

Life becomes easier if you know you can reach anywhere within 30 minutes flat, otherwise waging a constant battle every day just to get somewhere (as in an office) becomes so tedious an affair that one gets easily pessimistic and unexcited about everything that city life offers. City living begins to be unappealing and crumbles like playing cards when you realize, little by little, that things you won't get done don’t get done; in fact, it begins to take its own sweet time to come to fruition. Trust me, there’s not an iota of truth if somebody provokes you to say otherwise about the stark fact that the City of Pearls is now facing. Above all, it conclusively gives everybody sufficient reason to shout from rooftops: Life was so much worth more than what it is now. That’s for sure. That’s for sure, indeed.

*

Arinvan’s first day at work was more or less characterized by meeting new people that inevitably lead to a flurry of meetings and handshakes. It was in one of these sessions that we came across two sober individuals: Revanthi Rakani and Raufia Zaibunnisa Begum. The first one of the duo, Revanthi, was one of a kind, meaning how can one describe a person, living in this day and age, who is so modest and humble that interacting with her makes you a tad too uncomfortable? In fact, Little Miss Raufia was not far behind in these seemingly unheard of precious human commodities: modest and humble!

Arinvan is himself an aggrandizer of such positive behavioural characteristics that he found Revanthi’s personality trait to be thoroughly flummoxing. He couldn’t believe what he saw in her; that such a person could still exist in the so-called ‘aggressive field’ of IT and software technology was a pleasant surprise. No doubt, as far as Arinvan was concerned, it came as a whiff of fresh air. She was more or less a human-embodiment of soberness and kindness that these days we barely get to see others possessing those golden qualities. The management talks of “being aggressive”, “go-getter” and “dog-eat-dog world” clearly do not have a chance here. Such so-called management fundas are a passé and do not find any toe-hold here whatsoever, and like it not they are consigned to get outdated when faced with the innocent face value of Revanthi’s unpretentious and plain and simple nobleness. And, in this context, it becomes a little harder to believe that people like Revanthi Rakani and Raufia Begum are hard to find. Revanthi, who no doubt had had a noble upbringing – thanks, in no small part, to her wonderful parentage and her homely background – really did manage to work wonders for the department by leading not one or two but an all-inclusive oversized team bursting with positive energy. She had what others as managers never really had. She proved almost singlehandedly that management, administration, and supervision require nobleness and decentness on the part of the manager and not the high-sounding ruckus that goes by the names: ‘aggressiveness’ and its close cousin ‘assertiveness’. Arinvan found himself learning something valuable from that new thought-process that concerned ‘Revanthi Rakani and her nobleness’ germinating in his young impressionable mind.

It would have been a pity not wanting to know what Manpreet and Savitha thought about Revanthi’s and Raufia’s evidently gracious professionalism. Of course, it was so pleasantly obvious. But even then Arinvan had to be aware of Manpreet’s views about the two of the most genteel persons we had ever met or worked with. Manpreet and I, on most occasions, had shared similar views on such matters of mutual interest. As for Savitha’s reflections, Arinvan needn’t really take the trouble to ask of her what she thought of the dynamic duo because everything was writ large over her easy-to-read face: whatever she thought of, whatever she’d do, whenever she’s annoyed, whenever she’s happy, sad, angry, gloomy, displeased, stressed, distressed, anxious, harangued (who else? but GG Howdy of course!), etc., etc. – her accommodative face used to just spill the beans! Still, to satisfy his inclination of making observations, at first thought to have Savitha’s point of view and then Manpreet can anyway be entreated to do so later on.

Miss Tandavi’s plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face happiness knew no bounds. The kind of acquaintance she had with both Revanthi and Raufia, right from day one, was loud and clear. Savitha found Raufia to be modestly introverted but thoroughly professional and to a great extent a tenacious workaholic. Her hand-eye coordination while working at the computer: coding something, troubleshooting, fixing errors, or even customizing software, clearly demonstrates her innovative skills and knowledge at software coding and stuff like that. Keeping herself always reserved with work was one of her innate priorities. Savitha had told me and Manpreet once when we began our discussions among ourselves on our tasks for the coming weekend. Work was her worship in the clearest sense of the word and begum-Sahiba Raufia Zaibunnisa was beyond compare. She was no less than a personification of intellect and brains that made Savitha, as she confesses teasingly, going green with envy.

Raufia Begum had a genuine comradeship with Revanthi Rakani. It was so clear to figure that out. Both went about their work hand in hand and conscientiously so. Even Revanthi’s brilliance at work was truly matchless. Her intelligent quotient far outweighed anyone’s false claim to having something like that! Revanthi Rakani was known as ‘the eternal sunshine of a spotless mind’ among her peer members.

*

Echoing Arinvan’s views, Manpreet came forth speaking about the two dynamos in the form of ‘Revs’ and ‘Rafs’. Westernizing names was one of our PR activities so bear with us, folks! In terms of professional work ethics and daily job responsibilities, Raufia Zaibunnisa is a spitting image of Revanthi Rakani. She sure is one of a kind. Her lean frame carried an agile mind. Raufia was always known for her workaholic nature; she is a tearjerker, well adapted to whatever she’s working on, never mind any intricacies of it. Whether doling out clippety-clop software codes or finishing off before deadlines, she was known to have it and have it all just like magic. Though Revanthi and Raufia went far ahead than most others as far as their technical prowess is concerned, they never competed with each other. Nobody found any inkling of competition between them. That was sure a plus point in the context of nurturing a relationship between friends. ‘Competition’ is overrated anyway. It was not to their liking or style to stay cosseted in one-upmanship games with friends.

In the enlarged cabin where I, Manpreet and Savitha worked together, sometimes leisurely coursing through the fat Made in Denmark manuals and other umpteen company-supplied instruction material, we made observations mostly to ourselves that Raufia, razor-sharp intelligence that she possesses, almost always refrained from hobnobbing or socializing with anyone or idling away her time, except of course with her favourite associate Revanthi Rakani. By and large, Raufia Begum did engage with every person from her own team and then from other departments but she preferred not to be idling away her time on anything that kept her away from daily work. That was reason enough to know that she was in no way a work-shy co-worker that sometimes one might find – dare I say that – in any office set-up. Revanthi, on the other hand, though very similar to her counterpart Raufia, had an enthusiastic tendency to smile more often and get on with her work. ‘Live and Let Live’ was her personal quality. In fact, we were lucky to have come in contact with them and luckier still to have them as our trainers. Giving clear guidance, consulting, and coaching for the job were part of both Revanthi’s and Raufia’s accountability to us. We enjoyed their share of knowledge and brilliance for us to learn. After we got the hang of as to what we were supposed to do, it was their task to gradually drift away from us and let us be in charge of handling everything by ourselves.

Raufia’s lunchtime was confined to a half-an-hour at the most and before you know it she’s back at work! For her, lunchtime served only as a hindrance, for she couldn’t tend to her tasks during that half-hour break for that matter! It was simply, as Manpreet used to often say jokingly: “Rafs, you’re too much!” Raufia, her greatness notwithstanding, always smiled endearingly in perfect acknowledgment of Manpreet’s chivalrous comment. Not having any time for exchanging pleasantries or humour, she went down in the history books as a workaholic professional who was one of the great assets that Satyam ever had. Raufia’s contribution was no less outstanding than Revanthi’s. They both excelled in everything they laid their hands on. Revanthi was almost a carbon-copy of Raufia, and vice versa.

(To be continued...)

By Arindam Moulick

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. All incidences, places, and characters portrayed in the story are fictional and entirely imaginary. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. No similarity to any person either living or dead is intended or should be inferred.