Chapter 1 – Sonal and Rahim at Chander’s café

Sonal and Rahim are sitting at the far end of the office food court on the wall facing the cricket field. They bite into the delicious Samosa from Chander’s Café (an outlet in the food court) and the yummy taste is broken by the ruckus celebration in the cricket field. It is a sight to watch with kids dancing as they want after winning the match.

Sonal Chopra is from the temple city Bhubaneswar. Born in November 1992 to Ranjit and Madhu Chopra, both practicing physicians at one of the oldest Government hospitals in Bhubaneswar. She is 5’6 and one of the most popular employees at her company. She is a go getter and believes in sharing her opinion with others instead of keeping it to herself. Chopra has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years her junior. As she was sitting on the wall with the sun setting in front of her, her dusky complexion and vibrant smile would have caught anyone’s attention.

Rahim Khan is from the city of dreams Gurgoan. He lost his parents when he was 8 and then spent the next five years of his life in Mangalore, where his maternal grandfather served as the chief engineer of the port. Fluent in 4 different languages, he takes life as it comes every day. He is 5’11 and is considered the life at every party, best known for his dance moves and dimpled smile. With a toned body and bulging biceps, Rahim is called the “John Abraham” of his office.

Sonal was recounting a recent company sponsored program that she attended and how the eight hour program was a drag. It started on a high with the usual introductions and high energy conversation, however two hours into the program the energy level had started to dip and the participants were looking for excuses to be outside the breakout.

Rahim: So was the Facilitator not credible?

Sonal: The facilitator was very knowledgeable , however he was struggling to sustain our interest for a long time.

Rahim: So the duration was the problem. I have also encountered similar situations, where something could have been covered in 2 hours, but we have 8 hour programs. Colossal waste of time!!

Sonal: I understand what you are saying and I have been in similar programs. However the challenge here was different, the content required us to spend this much amount of time. The way the Instructor went about it completely exhausted us and even though I wanted to understand the topic, I reached a point where I gave up.

Rahim: You are behaving as if this is the first bad program you have attended. Chiilax, these things happen. Did you suggest the facilitator anything?

Sonal: Well actually I did. I was watching this Video on you tube on “Fun Theory”. The experiment is great, it incentivizes people for driving safe through a lottery instead of penalizing people for rash driving. I suggested to him if we can bring in a similar concept to use during our next session, where we create a situation where we are engaging with each other as learners in our breakouts and we have incentives.

Rahim: Sounds interesting Sonal. You have a “beautiful” brain (smiles as he finishes his sentence)

Sonal: Rahim I know you for so long…I know you are pulling my leg. Ok I will not talk about this anymore (Makes a sad face)

Rahim: I am sorry yaar..Genetic defect hai. Bolte bolte bol diya. I am all ears tell me. I am also going to order your favorite “Egg Maggi” to make up for this mistake.

Rahim shouts out to Chander who is standing behind the counter for the famous “Egg Maggi”. Chander nods his head to motion that he has taken the order. Chander puts a mark in his note book to notify that this is the 200th “Egg Maggi” that has been ordered for today and also writes Rahim in front of the order. Now back to our story, before I loose trail of my thoughts for “Maggi”J.

Rahim: Sonal now you have to breakout of this bad mood spell or else I will feel miserable about this.

Sonal: (Breaks into a giggle)...I am a super actor I must tell youJ.

Rahim: (Throws his hands in the air)… I agree you are a dam good actor

Sonal: So I have been reading a little about “Gamification” and I think if used properly it has the power to change the way we drive engagements. And by that I don’t mean only engagements in a classroom but also in our business functions.

Rahim: Wait Wait… Let me get on the bus before you ride it!!! What did you just say, sounded like games but I know that’s not what you said.

Sonal: I said “Gamification” (says this out loudly with a little bit of Drama and has others in the cafeteria turn around to find the source of the noise)

Rahim: So what is Gamification? Is there even a term like that? How do you define it?

Sonal: Gamification is “The use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game contexts”.

Rahim: (Laughs out loud)…Wow that was simple!!! I understood everything (Making faces to suggest it went like one of those bouncers that leaves the batsmen completely bamboozled)

Maninder (One of the old hands at the Cafeteria) brings the “Egg Maggi” to the table and helps fizzle out another fight that was just building up between Sonal and Rahim.

Sonal: (Takes the Maggi from Maninder’s hand)… This is your real punishment for troubling me, you sit here and watch me eat thisJ. Take my phone and open the game “Handy Mush”. Let us see if you reach level 3 first or I finish eating Maggi first.

The countdown started 1, 2, 3 and…..

The Story continues next week…