Wednesday, August 31, 2011

What a coinincidence !!

Sometime in early 2005 while I was working with Infosys in Bangalore, I had an interesting conversation with an auto-rickshaw driver. After the conversation got over I realised the august "company" I was with. Talk of inclusive growth these days ? Infosys had cracked the code much before Dan Brown decoded Monalisa's enigma !!

Here is a snippet of the conversation I had had (recaptured as much as I can fairly) with him !!

Driver : Saar ! Aaap Bangalore me kya karta !!
Me: Kaam karta hoon !!
Driver : Kidhar kaam karta hai aap ?
Me : Electronic City mein !
Driver : Oh ! Saar kaoon sa company me kaam karta hai aap ?
Me ( quite hesitantly and pretty much not interested to talk anymore ) : Infosys !
Driver ( almost jumps up with excitement & looks back at me ) : Saar.. mera bibi bhi udhar ich kaam karta hai !
Me : Kidhar ???????? Infosys mein ?????? ( I can add fairly large number of Q marks actually)
Driver : Haan Saar !
Me : ( by now pretty much bemused... and thinking about the driver's virtue.. 'didn't stop the talented wife from working while he drove a rick..'. )
Driver ( on finding no response from me for a few seconds comes up with a statement himself ) : Saar ! Mera bibi ko bahut kaam hota hai...
Me ( with a smirk and sense of amusement ) : Haaan !! Sahi bol rahe ho aap ! Bahut kaam karati hai Infosys..
(with a pause and about to say 'ekdum faaltu company hai' when the driver responds )
Driver : Lekin Saaar baahuut accha company hai Infosys..
continues...
Mera bibi ne uske bhaai ko bhi kaam me laga diya Infosys me...
Me ( pretty much vacillating between petulance and amusement by now) :

( 'I haven't been able to get a reference interview call for my friends and here is this rick - driver's wife merrily getting the entire family into the company'...)
.....
('but have to concede Infosys provides equal opportunity to everyone')
When the driver interrupted my thoughts
Driver : Saaar !! Wo Jaynagar me kaaam karti hai.. itna ich maloom mere ko...
Me (shocked to find that Infosys had an office in Jaynagar ): Kyaaa ??? Jaynagar me ????

Driver: Haan saar.. mera bibi udhar ich kaam karti hai.. Ghar ke pass hai to jyada time bhi nahi lagta usko jaane ko..
Me (tottalllly confused by now ): Aaapki bibi wo Narayan Murthy wale Infosys me hi kaam karti hai na ?????????
Driver : Haaan Saar.. woich.. udhar Electronic City me bhi uska office hai... 
Me : To aapki biwi kis department me kaam karti hai aapko malooom hai ?
Driver : Saaar.. !! Utna kaha se maloom mere ko.. accha paaise deti hai.. utna ich ...
Me : I was like ( What the hell is the guy talking about.. '..Infosys is a good company' ! '...it pays well....'  !!! 
This was tottallly against Infosys culture... 'From when did Infosys start paying well ???'  !! 'May be the pittance that we are paid is good for the driver's family but it didn't certainly last a day more than 1st of every month for me' )

As  I contemplated and got confused more and more... a coincidence happened (somewhere close to a junction near Kanakpura road).. when the driver prompted me to something...

Driver : Wo dekho Saaar Infosys .. ???
Me : Kidhar ??? Idhar to koi Infosys ka office nahi dikh raha.... ??
The only board that was displayed nearby read  - Nirmal Sauchalay - or in other words - Pristine Lavatory

Driver : Sahab ye ich to hai Infosys .. pointing towards the Nirmal Sauchalay board !!!
Me : ( 'When did Infosys start exporting 'shit' ) .. I thought 
( 'I exported sophisticated codes after all' ) or (' at least that was 'sophisticated shit' )
 Still confused very much with whatever was in front of me
Driver : Mera bibi idhar ich kaam karta hai... and then pointing me towards the Infosys I was looking for

Just below Nirmala Sauchalay was written in an innocuous manner - Supported by Infosys Foundation.

Me : Thankfully it didn't read - An Infosys Foundation Product...
Couldn't speak much after.. kept mum to escape the delirium... Infosys tag coudln't have sucked anymore!!




5 comments:

Souvik said...

Quite a funny anecdote. On a more serious note Infosys is one of the few new generation Indian Organisations who have made an effort towards some form of CSR - a cause well championed by the old industrial houses like Tatas and Birlas which till a few years was a major driving factor for improving quality of life of Tier 3 cities and small towns which they were associated with.

Debasmita said...

Funny one!! Good attempt.

Pritha said...

Had a hearty laugh ! :) :) Good one !!

fragranceexotic said...

You certainly loved your time in Infy... what a payback!!

Mishree said...

super :)

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