What you DO in life is only half of it – the other half and the more important half is – who you do it with.
I was wondering what to write this year, and the idea came to me, as I was watching TV. The title of this article was a dialogue delivered by a father, to his daughter, about her future husband. And the dialogue stuck a chord with me. I realised how true it is about anything we do. And, this got me thinking about my article, and then about all the people I have done things with in life – and I must say, I have been very lucky (or maybe right) about the people I have been DOING it with J
As I reflected on the topic, I realised, that I have always, naturally been very conscious and selective of the company I keep, and this is represented by the relationships that I have, which is my biggest possession. I would not trade this for all the money in the world. I have always maintained, that whereas making money is important, it is equally and more important that you do it, while enjoying the journey. The journey becomes enjoyable when you are surrounded by people whom you love, and who love you back. I believe we see this all the time AAPNA.
To keep the story short, I will restrict the span of the article to my professional life, and to AAPNA, so I will speak about the people whom I have been with as we have developed AAPNA.
I will start with Aithal – whom many may not know, and others may have forgotten. Aithal was the first one to come aboard the AAPNA ship. Although, I have been critical about Aithal on many occasions, I believe, he played a critical role in the formative years of AAPNA, and gave us our first showcase, in form of the Chambal project. That brings me to Sai, who has never formally been part of AAPNA, but during the formative years, his support was invaluable.
I then move on to couple of powerful forces behind AAPNA. Shailendra and Sandeep are no longer with us, but I truly believe they will never be able to love any other organization, as much as they loved AAPNA. It’s almost like the first love, which you can never get away with. Their love for AAPNA is probably one of my most beautiful possessions, though few will ever understand that.
Since I am on ex-employees, I would also like to talk about two others who have powerfully impacted AAPNA, and they are Yashpal, and Ashu. Yashpal, for just being there, as people would look upto him, as a senior, and he mostly gave good advice, and his integrity was unquestionable. Ashu is a great developer, and a very good person, but he made a permanent place for himself in the history of AAPNA, when he left a much bigger company and returned to AAPNA. I am sure, this action of his has positively impacted several people, knowingly or unknowingly.
I now speak about a few people who have been with AAPNA for over 5 years. In a company with 40 employees, to have over 10 (including me and Rakhi) who are older than 5 years, says a lot for the culture of the organization.
Yes – Sujoy, Shweta have now been with the company for 6 years. Both are pillars of this organization, and have a strong personal and professional bond with the company. They have mapped their personal careers with AAPNA, and have taken the responsibilities of its growth on their shoulders, along with many others.
Atul – I keep saying, I have an unprecedented relation with this guy. His devotion to AAPNA, and work is unmatched. I know, that he will continue to be one of the strongest people in the AAPNA team.
Biswajit, Anuj Jha, Raj, Neeraj, Shyam and Manish all joined us in 2007 and have all been with AAPNA for over 5 years. It’s been extremely pleasurable working with this team, and each and every one of them, contributes uniquely to the growth of the company, and to its strong foundation. With this foundation, we can go anywhere we want.
Sachin – I cannot complete this discussion without mentioning Sachin – who has completed 4 years in the organization, and has been instrumental in giving shape to our design team as well as executing several WordPress projects, single handed.
When we talk about culture, it is these people who represent the culture of AAPNA, and whether they realise it or not, they have been equally instrumental in defining the culture of AAPNA.
I have purposely kept this discussion to people who have been with the company for over 3 years, but there are many others in the company, who contribute to the culture of the organization, and are the future of the company.
And finally a special mention to Rakhi, whom I kept out of the above discussion, on account of you know what J Rakhi continues to amaze me, with her skills at management, and it is extremely thrilling to see her grow in her professional career.
I am proud to say, that we have a great team at AAPNA, and it is the biggest achievement of my life.
Abhijit Roy
