Thanks Toronto Team

I have spent more than 2 months here and today evening I will be heading back home. I don’t know how the time flew as it always felt I was at home away from home. And I owe a big thanks to my teammates here who not only welcomed me but also made me a part of them. I never felt like an outsider here; and that made the stay wonderful.

Now that I thank all of them I think I should write a line or 2 about everyone, about what I will remember most about them.

I will start with Ankur. He is from the Gurgaon office but we had never met there. And here we became friends. He would persistently encourage me to try/do new things. He made me taste the Raspberry tea in office and he was the one who encouraged me to cook. And he helped me do a lot of shopping as well.

Naveen is someone who comes around as the bully. He will keep bossing most people. But when it comes to work he is the go to person. He has his way of doing things but it was nice working with him. And despite how he comes up, he has a softer side. One night we were in office till late and we ordered dinner. When our order came, the dish I had ordered contained capsicum (my dreaded enemy). And as I was wondering what to do, he exchanged his dish with me.

Rajiv is another teammate of mine who comes across as someone very quiet. He goes about working on what’s need to be done in his own quiet way. He is probably the only person I know who was praised implicitly by a leadership member in front of his teammates.

Andes is one of the most thorough person I have met. He is quiet and doesn’t speak much. But as far as work is concerned he would try all possible ways before coming up to any conclusion. For instance if there are say 10 ways of doing something and an average person will do only 5-6 steps before coming back Andes would do all 10 before reverting.

Evi was the person about whom my impression changed drastically from my initial days to my last days here. I didn’t speak much with her but one day I said something to her – quite bluntly – which I now realize I could have avoided. And she didn’t give an impression that she didn’t like it; so I guess it’s all good J

Abhishek is the PM and has a unique way of going about things. We had our share of manager-developer conversations but they were all in good spirits and there was no arguments (for a change :P).

Andrea joined the team recently and didn’t have much interaction with her; but she is the first girl I have met who has good knowledge of football and enjoys the game as well. Just that she is Red-Devil makes us rivals of sorts ;)

Don is another PM on the project. He is usually very quiet compared to other PMs. I was most impressed with the things he does when he is not working – interviewing students and skiing. And I still remember the day when he put ‘Worrying’ in his LLP J

Girish is the client CE and at his position I hardly expected to see him in office with the team. But he was involved till the minutest details which was pleasantly surprising. And he was as approachable as any other member of the team which I didn't expect. Moreover he loved to take the team out for beer and always had interesting conversation up his sleeve.

While working with Satish I never felt his seniority. He worked as if he was a friend of yours; getting involved in conversations, listening patiently and helping whenever you ask him for help. And he is probably the only person in the team who can make and keep Naveen quiet (which is a major achievement if you ask any of the people mentioned here :P).

Susan is one of the smartest girls I ever met. She is a very quick-learner. You tell her something once and she remembers it. She can mix and gel with anyone. And she is pretty organized as well. I was amazed at her typing speed. She always brought chocolates for the team. She helped me buy a suitcase. One day she cooked and brought macrones which were great. (She only let me eat 4 which I believe is the max no anyone ate ;)). And the icing on the cake was the Starbucks Coffee mug she gave me J

I have tried to capture the most remembered moments because there’s a lot that can be written. And I wouldn't end without mentioning that the best part of the day was the lunch sessions – usually conducted by Naveen. You have to be there to know and experience how they are.