Chapter 3: Ravish takes center stage

Sonal: I will be on the floor in few minutes.

Rahim: Now you are not getting late to complete your work (with irritated facial expression)

Sonal: I know Rahim (speaks while shrugging her shoulder). I have not caught up with Ravish for long, so will spend few minutes with him and get back.

Rahim: Do you still plan to leave by 8:00 PM today? Should I wait for you?

Sonal: Of course you need to wait for me. Why does that seem optional to you?

Rahim: I wanted to be sure (without blinking an eye lid).

Sonal: I will get going now and see you on the floor in the next 15-20 mins.

Rahim: Ok.

Rahim looks at Sonal walk towards the food court exit where Ravish was leaning on one of the glass doors. Ravish and Sonal took a left from the exit and plank themselves on one of the stairs. Rahim would have continued his gaze for eternity but he was ushered back to reality by Chander asking him to punch his pin number. As Rahim punches in the pin number, he remembers the yellow color Cheque that Chander had given him today.

Ravish and Sonal settle on the stairs. Ravish was sweaty on his forehead and stumbling for words. Sonal tucks her hair behind her ear and her beautiful white gold dangler shines beautifully in the sun light. The air is filled with expectation and “Sooraj hua maddham” plays in the background…

Sonal: How have you been Ravish?

Ravish: I have been keeping busy Sonal. Today is one of those rare days in the last few weeks that I have not been pushing to meet a deadline. It’s been a month that I have joined Salsa classes and it really tires me out by end of day.

Sonal: (Bubbling with excitement)… Salsa classes!!! Are you serious? I would have never imagined that (still recovering from the disclosure). How did that happen?

Ravish: Someone challenged me to a dance competition and I wanted to give it my best shot to win.

Sonal: I see the desire to win in you has not changed in all these years. I still remember your madness for CS.

Ravish: Competition gives me that adrenaline rush. I enjoy to compete with others and win. I am choreographing my dance moves, so it gives me an opportunity to create something new and surprise my opponents.

You yourself used to participate in a lot of competitions Sonal. I am sure you relate to this feeling?

Sonal: I enjoyed participating in competitions and I still do. I recently won the “best innovative idea” award for my engagement team. However my idea of participating in a competition is different from yours. I participate because it gives me an opportunity to meet different people and I get to know different perspectives. While I will give my best shot at winning the competition, my real happiness and motivation is in knowing others.

Ravish: (Listening intently)… and what about Rahim?

Sonal: What about Rahim? (Using an open palm gesture to suggest she doesn’t quite understand what to respond)

Ravish: What do you think motivates him winning or meeting people?

Sonal: I think neither. Rahim is driven by being the best and accumulating social status. He loves to participate in competitions and beat his own records. He is not really bored by the same kind of competitions. I still remember, he kept playing “Scrabble” every night in college to try and better his own score. We were all bored but he still lured us into playing with him. (Breaks into a giggle).

Ravish: This is interesting. What other kind of motivation would people have?

Sonal: I am not sure. Considering people are different, I am guessing there would be more motivations at play

Ravish: This would be a great topic to explore.

Sonal: I agree. Rahim and I were talking about Gamification earlier today and understanding different motivations that people have when they engage or participate in a gamified environment is so important.

Ravish: I have just started attending a course on Gamification. While we still haven’t ventured into different kind of motivations, I can relate to why we need to understand and account for these.

Sonal: A course on “Gamification”? Where? How? Why? (The barrage of questions would have got Sherlock to sip water)

Ravish: I will mail you the details. It is an emerging business practice and draws lessons from Psychology, design, strategy and technology, so I wanted to understand it better. Everyone was talking about “Gamification” and I did not want to miss out.

Sonal: Aye Aye Champion. You are a true role model. Here I was thinking about Gamification and you have already started doing a course.

Ravish: I see it is a common interest. How about we discuss this over dinner today? I know of a new place near to your house. I can pick you at 8:00 PM from office and drop you home after dinner.

Sonal: Ravish I am not sure about today. I have to finish some work and I have been away from floor for some time now. I don’t want to keep you waiting and change plan at the last minute.

Ravish: I can wait for you and considering I am aware about the dynamic nature of our work, I can handle any last minute changes.

Inside Sonal’s head: How can he manage to be assertive and charming at the same time? I don’t want to push back and who am I fooling – I have been waiting for him to ask me out for dinner)

Sonal: Ok Ravish. You are very convincing (Smiles and slowly fiddles with her beautiful long stand of hair)

As they get up from the stairs, Ravish offers his hand to help Sonal stand up. They head to their work stations and Sonal’s mobile beeps to Rahim’s message.

Message from Rahim: If we leave at 8, do you want to pick up Shawarma and Kabab from “Arabian Delights”? I can call Gafoor and ask him to have our parcel ready for pick up.

Sonal looks at the message as the elevator opens to “sorry to keep you waiting” announcement.

Question for readers: Based on Bartle’s taxonomy of player types, can you identify player types for Sonal, Rahim and Ravish?