Being an Orange at HTSL Utsav 2006

Fourth best place to work in India

Grow Talent Institute (USA) - Business World India survey, 2006

Being a part of the company which has this recognition to its credit, is a great experience. Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore - the place, where i have been spending almost half of my 24 hours in day (nearly three-fourths, in the last 40 days!! :-)) for the last 16 months.

One of the best parts of our company culture... mmm...rather the best part of our company culture, is the encouragement given to an active life-after-work. And the event, which is the culmination of it all - Utsav - the annual cultural festival held in the months of November and December. I don't know of any other company which has a 40-day (or anywhere close, for that matter) gala as part of its calendar. (Mind you, this is other than the monthly Friday blasts we have!!)

And during these 40 days, we have around 25 competitions that held under five tracks of our cultural wing - "Wings" From Adventure, to Mindsport, to Fitness and Personality, to Performing arts, to Sports - you name it, we have it!! With the entire organization randomly divided into 8 teams, and fighting it out - the joy of meeting new people, working with them, sharing the victories and losses together, the nights spent in preparing for the events... trust me... the experience is unparalleled and simply inexplicable...

This time, the theme for the teams is colors - the seven colors of the rainbow, along with Black. (last year, it was prominent mountain ranges in India, and birds, the year before that). This year, i have been a part of the Orange team. Telling about the experiences i've had with my team in the last one month would mean writing several reams on it :-) But in short - the victories in Dumb Charades, Volleyball, Cricket, Mock Press and Treasure hunt have been as memorable as the (bad :-P) losses in a few others...

The 9 second clincher in the last round which propelled us from fourth place in the penultimate round, to being the winners in Dumb Charades (thanks to Nandita's on-the-fingertip knowledge of company punch lines), the Rakhi Sawanth character played by Arif bhai (in micro mini, with his legs waxed!!!) in Mock Press, which had several mails like "hi babe..." "wanna come out with me..." "what's your number..." flooding his inbox, the five consecutive days, when the team led by Ranjeeth and Kshitij sat overnights - literally - (till 7 am in the morning) to crack the online treasure hunt, the nine runs scored in the last over, by Nawaz and team, to win the cricket finals, the thundering smashes by the Subhash - Abhishek duo... (one of the names there familiar??? issshhhh... i'm blushing!!!) which won the Volleyball title, the numerous falls and acrobatics in Matka phod (krishnashtamy ishtyle), the dash by Khusroo in the 400 mts track event, the marvellous designs by Ranbir supported by Rachana, Nandita, Isha, Ruchi, Amit, Kshitij and Ranjeet in the fashion show - all of these in which we were the runners... the list just goes on.. and on... Not just that... just sitting back and closing my eyes, makes all these moments run in front of my eyes like a movie... There are many names, which i haven't mentioned here - but all of who, have helped the team win every single valuable point, on our way to winning the championship...

There's another week and another four events to go,a neck-to-neck fight with Violet, Indigo and Yellow for the championship will ensure that these seven days too will be as memorable as the days gone by. Whether we win or lose, that time will tell. But the spirit with which we have fought, is embodied in the team T Shirt (designed by me... issshhhh... blushing again!!!) This is what will have made Utsav 2006 very unforgettable. The entire festival will have its climax on Dec 16, at Palace grounds, Bangalore, where there will be the final day celebrations.

I'll be back in a week with more on the who became the winner and the blast we had on the final day... and yes... hopefully with the winner's trophy... :-)