Thanks to Microsoft

Sometimes you need to undergo a real bad patch to get something best out of it. I have been in a similar situation almost two years ago, when I was asked by my senior to work on some project. In fact I was not at all the right person to carry out that activity however as it happens in any IT companies, it happened with me, I was asked to work!!!

I was not only given the task but I was also asked to review other’s work. In this awkward situation I worked late, slogged like anything to learn and then work efficiently to complete my task and I was a topper when review reports were considered as a benchmark. I hardly shared this triumph with anyone as I was working for Microsoft.

I knew I was going through a real bad time as I did not get the time to think & relax or a minute. I used to reach home at midnights that too after having a free dinner at our canteen. I used to feel like one of those American prisoners kept in secret prisons of Cuba.

During this period I happened to interact with a person, who was a Flash developer initially working as a freelancer and then on contract. He used to work till I used to stay at office. I somehow liked his attitude towards the dumb work we were doing. He was not only positive about what he was doing but I assumed he must be a passionate person.

After working with him for another couple of months, one day I came to know he was passionate about photography and reading history, especially Indian and Maratha history. I started interacting with him regularly. I used to answer his innocent queries about camera and overall photography techniques, and I used to enjoy chatting on history as well.

Chatting continued over coffee breaks and in lazy post lunch session hours. Finally he decided to invest in a camera. One day together we went to Mumbai’s downtown Fort area and bought an entry level camera for him. We then started going on small excursions.

By the time he finally got fade-up with the monotonous work he was doing and left abruptly. Months passed, I was still in his contact through e-mails and sometimes over phone.

One opportunity opened in my department and I used “bring a buddy” scheme to get him back in our organization. In my life first time, I had called someone to join the organization. God knows what I thought at that moment, But the results he showed in his work were more than satisfactory. Management was happy with his work and he was awarded some important tasks.

By the way I am writing about my friend Kuldip Gandhi. He is from Konkan and loves to be in Konkan like anything. His passion and “always to learn something new” attitude is wonderful. Unfortunately he is the only person in our team having such positive attitude.

After a long time I met a person with so much of enthusiasm and energy. We embarked on couple outdoor trips and I enjoyed his company. After some time I realized that he was not only learning photography by accompanying me but also learning on his own when at home.

One fine day an idea of developing a website of my own work struck me and the first person I approached was him. He agreed right away. We started off with basic designing and how to present strategies etc. Finally I ended up taking inspiration from one of my gurus in photography Steve McCurry. I realised my photos are having Indian feel and require some Indian design.

Whatever came to mind was put on in the Photoshop. In couple of days my design was ready. Kuldip continued his support when it came to programming. The best part was he started shuttling between Dombivli and Thane every Saturday. Since there use to be a load shedding in his suburb, mine was a good place to work. After his consistent trips to my place, my website’s structure was ready.

Without hesitation he even agreed to accompany me to Pune to finalise a business with hosting services. I really liked his dedication and commitment. It is very rare these days to find people with such wonderful commitment towards others.

I could complete my work within the deadline I had set and thanks to Kuldip for all his efforts and all his trips on the day of Railway’s maintenance mega blocks. My website is in final stages of completion and reviews. In next couple of weekends it will be ready for inauguration.

I am always grateful to Microsoft, for giving me a passionate person like Kuldip and I am grateful to Kuldip for working so hard on my website for a passion called photography. Salute to his efforts.