Day One at CL

Dear All,

30th July, I got into the Rajdhani Express at Bhubaneswar and touched the New Delhi station by 11.00am next day.Then my first lessons of "Enhance your Negotiation Skill" started.

The autowalla charging Rs.375/- to drop me at the Faridabad border from where I have to get into another auto to reach at the guest house at Charmwood Village.I spoke to Amit from the Delhi Head Office,who asked me to burgain further.After consulting some 4-5 autowallas,I was bugged.Amit suggested me not to settle with anything more than Rs.150/-.However after some 50 minutes,I settled at Rs.200/-.

Then from New Delhi to Faridabad Border journey by an auto started.The driver started playing some hindi sad songs by Lata Mangeskar.It was blowing at a 145-160 decibel.The auto with me and the driver was cynosure .Everyone looked at us and smiled/laughed loud.Meanwhile, I kept on requesting the driver to decrease the volume.But he was not ready to do so.People were making faces and enjoyed the fun out of it.

and the songs were........."gairon se karam..apno se sitam..oh jane wafa yeh bair naa kar.." .It sounded as if my IMS boss and colleagues singing for me....

followed by .......'na jao saiyaan...chudake baiyaan..kasam khuda ki main ro padungee...'..I felt my students,counselors,friends at IMS ...saying this to me...

There were many more also...it was a nostalgic feeling for me..missed all my well wishers & critics forawhile.

then changed one more rickshaw and reached at the guest house..

It was a 3BHK flat.All other people who were staying there.....already went to office.

I met the care taker Rakesh.He had shown me the room allocated for me to put up.

As I was tired..went for a shower....then was ready to discover the place further.

In fact my current reporting boss Himanshuji told me that there will be one person from Hyderabad who ll join along with me in the networking department.So I tried gathering some info about him.Rakesh told me about some Satya and Srini staying there.

He prepared lunch for me and served it with lots of warmth.Enjoyed the food and then was flipping through the channels.Came across..Sanjubaba's verdict and then the Indian win over England.Was glued to the TV till evening.

Then Rakesh prepared my dinner and left for the day.

Unfortunately I forgot bring my pair of formal shoes in a hurry.Thus on first day,I wanted to manage the show with a new pair of shoes.

Now the search for a decent shoe mart started......after 95 minutes...I discovered a shoe mart in the small town Prahladpur nearby...

burgained again for a black semi-formal shoe(the best available there) and could negotiate at a price of Rs.675 whereas he quoted Rs.950/- at first.

when I came back from the market....I was being welcomed by a person with a french beard.I did introduce myself and informed him that I am joining at Bhubaneswar.HIS name was SATYA.

He offered me some fruits and enquired about my dinner arrangements.

I informed him that Rakesh already prepared food for me.

Then we got into a chat.

I asked,'Since How long ..you are with CL???

HIS ANSWER :--since it started in 1995.

oh..so long..great..

What's your job role here in this organisation?

He replied,"I am LST(Law School Training) teacher here.Also teaching MBA aspirants....

My next question was like..."Which part you do teach..PS/VA/LR/DI??

he answered... "VA & PS" both...

OK...GREAT SIR..MASTERY OVER BOTH THE SUBJECTS..

then he spoke to me about cricket and Sanjay Dutt verdict for some 10 minutes...

meanwhile his cellphone started ringing..he went to his room and was busy attending so many calls..

I was again glued to the TV and also had a talk with my parents also...

then the door bell rings agin..I thought it must be Srini who looks after the Hyderabad business...

opened the door and said,,,.....you are Srini,right???

He also with a smiling face greeted me.....

then it was his turn..

same set of questions...

he answered ..I do too many things..sometimes teaching..at times operations..here n there..

then changed the channels and got into Discovery,National Geographic,DD-Bharti etc.

there was a program about some Ramchandran,an artist and sculptor going on...

Srini knew him beforehand..thus started talking about him and his achievements..it was learning for me..

then he was listening to some tamil voacl music which was foot-tapping.

I thought.."may be this person have some vast knowledge about classical music.

then he also gulped his dinner fast in some micro seconds...

He took his laptop into his room and was settling for a sleep.

I thought..it's time to sleep....thus went to bed..called up mother India and in my dreams in next 30 minutes...

woke up early by 5.30am in the morning and was excited about my joining at CL.But prefered to flip through some news channels early morning.

Meanwhile, Ritika,the HR lady gave me a call to report sharp by 9.15am at office.

Satya was ready by that time and came out of his room.Greeted me with "Good Morning".

Then Rakesh also came in.Enquired me about the dinner.I replied,'the food was tasty..."..

Satya with a plate of fruits came upto me and asked to have some.

I said,"You are ready for office..all dressed.."

He replies,'yah!!!you know..if I reach office late..CL ll deduct my salary...."

I knew he is joking and thus burst into laughter...

then I was enquiring about the distance from guest house and how much time..will it take to reach at Head Office.How much the auto ll be charging etc..

now here comes Srini sir......'MORNING YOUNG MAN.."

he was about to enter into the wash room ..then he says..'we ll be starting from here in next 15 minutess..so be ready ASAP...and asked me to use the wash room and he prefered the other bathroom.

I had a quick ablution and dressed properly.....

by that time..Srini sir was in his favourate kurta... and passed me the breakfast plate.

I gulped in a hurry....then he said.."follow me.."

I went down and found him in his car...Satya sir also joined us......

then both of them started talking business..revenues..tie-ups for e-learning etc...

at times..used some tamil parlance...

then Satya asked me about my background...

I told him everything in detail chronologically..graduation..NGO..MBA...IMS..CM..RCM etc....also mentioned about 1000 days stay at IMS......etc...

in some 15 minutes..reached office.....he parked the car...

then he asked me about my reporting today..

I took Himanshu sir's name.

Then Srini sir showed me his cabin and asked me wait there.He was kind enough to bring the newspapers and told me to flip through...

after some 20 minutes..met Ritika..who asked me to go to the boardroom at the basement...

Introduce yourself and then follows the CL presentation...

Slide 1..2..3..

slide 4.....what's this???What the french beard LST instructor doing in the slide..a cartoon of Satya.....saying..'I am bugged with my monotonous job at Ranbaxy..and starting PDP program as first business....then gradually the story unfolds......

my facial expession changes......turning red faced....Satya!!!!Oh...my God...the chairman of the organisation.....I just can't believe this..I am staying with the owner of the organisation..I was enquiring this visionary about his association with CL...oh....after a deep breath....realised..great people always distinguish themselves by their simplicity.....

one more lesson...Manas!!!This is what you need to be if you dream of being a CEO by April 2014.the character...the skeleton of a great leader required.....

now one more to go...Srini is one of the Directors whom I thought ll be my Tamil teacher during my stay of 15days at Delhi.

now...how do I face these two gentlemen when I go back to the guest house...

really...the day one was dramatic..a thriller..a pleasant surprise for me......

with such kind of people as the head of this organisation....I am more confident that "I am going to have some great time here..."...

let's hope and be mentally prepared for some more exciting moments and assignmentsssssss.....in days to come...

that's all for this bulletin.

Regards,

Manas Nayak
Mr.Bay Leaf