Yaadein

Its been around 8 months I left my job at SI Group India Limited (previously Herdillia) and the time has gone around really fast. I haven't been in constant touch with anyone from the factory. I am to be blamed for this. It takes just 5 mins to write an email or sms but my inertia has prevented me from doing so.

Since the past few days, I have been wondering about my life before joining SCMHRD and I feel that the two years spent at Herdillia will remain special and memorable throughout my entire life. In fact, I feel that these two years were the most well-spent days of my life till now. Even though after MBA I will be getting a so called "better" job which will pay me more and give me higher designations, I feel that the job at Herdillia was the best. I mean there was so much there which I don't think I'll be getting at most of the other organizations.

Some special things of Herdillia I recall (which I may not get at any other job) are:
1. The respect I obtained from one and all in the organization: I entered the organization only as a management trainee but still I was treated with a lot of respect by everyone around. People entrusted me with some of the important jobs.
Many senior managers and even the plant officials treated me with a lot of respect and always asked for my suggestions (which I obviously couldn't give) before making decisions. Whenever, I went to the factory, people actually told me the problems facing the plant with the expectation that I will solve the problems. (something which people talk to with long serving employees only). Eve the contract labour personnel and the maintenance staff helped me and talked to me with respect.

2. My boss: A PhD from UDCT, Dr. Animesh Chakrabarti, was my boss at my first job. He is a boss I feel everyone should have in the first job. He never imposed any big work on me and always exposed me to the problems faced by the plant and asked me for suggestions. He always asked whether I was confident enough for designing anything.
He believed in me when I said I was confident and that was the reason a fresh engineer coming straight out from college could design a pump in the first month (which he approved without much cross checking) and then a heat exchanger based on my hand calculations. (It was only after his approval that some others cross checked my calculations in a software). Although I did some boring work like preparing for ppt's for monthly reviews, I now understand their value and would really like to thank him for letting me do so. He was also the fastest growing person in the organization. He became the GM of the technical department when I joined and in 1.5 years he was made the VP of the entire factory. His name now has started appearing on the annual reports of the company. He was also very accomodating and always left me to my house when we had to wait after office hours. He always granted me leaves when I needed them (thodi mach mach hoti thi but finally he gave). He always any good work done by me - be it changes in the documentation or working after factory hours - in private which I really liked.

Senior Manager - S.T.Patil - He is the best mentor anyone can have. A very intelligent, logical and a perfect plant manager, Mr S.T. Patil is the person who is involved in almost all the decision - small and large taking place at the company. He is a person who always took me to the plant when required to let me see new happenings in the plant. He was a very frank person and always told me where I went wrong. Also, he was good at catching me when I lied (which I did sometimes). I learnt the actual art of managing a lot of stressful activities from him. He is also one of the most respectable people of the organization and his word is never questioned in the organization. He is not an engineer but he knows a lot about engineering and guided me about the use of formulaes. He is also very good at grasping new things- be it Six Sigma or Finance.

I guess this post will never end. Some of the things I miss are listed. Will write more about them later:
The morning breakfast
The bus service at Herdillia
The collegues
Mr. Solanki
Mr. Borwankar
Mr. Vichare
Plant
Freedom
Food
etc
etc
Can't stop writing about life at Herdillia . Truly unforgettable.
Hope the company does well in all affairs.