V.V.I.P.

What a year 2020 has been so far!

Every occasion, everyone and every situation has a Very Very Important Person (V.V.I.P) right? I also have one.

From a different view, what 2020 beholds for us, Vijay Badri, Venkat Aravamudhan and me, is fascinating. Vijay, the eldest amongst us three, joined Infosys in 2002 coming with some experience from working in another IT firm for a couple of years. He was very impressed with the values, the discipline, the opportunity at work and the fascinating Bangalore campus in E-City. What more could he have asked for, when he had a working space in the Heritage Building and in the same floor which housed Mr. Murthy’s cabin too! He certainly was enjoying and it was a matter of pride for him whenever he was in social gathering including family get-togethers, to tell everyone how proud an Infoscion he was. For someone like me, who was then working as a HR executive in a smaller IT Infrastructure management, it was like hearing some fantasy story!

In 2004, when Vijay saw a recruitment drive for Engineers, he suggested that my brother Venkat take the tests and applies for employment with Infosys. Venkat did make it and in mid-2004 he joined Infosys’ training batch in Bangalore. A few months later, when Infosys was running a drive for young HR executives, Vijay prodded me to apply for the opportunity. I did heed to it and as it looked destined, towards the end of 2004, I too joined Infosys!

December 2004 saw us three based at Bangalore and meeting for breakfasts in the traditional FC-1 (Golconda, for those who are familiar). From the Upma-Pesarat dosas in 2004 to the Open Dosas currently, Vijay and I continue to enjoy the warmth of the Bengaluru campus while Venkat who had relocated to Chennai after his training, continues to works from there. And, it did become a habit for the three of us to brag and end-up in friendly banters in all family events. Mind you, there was an army of other family members employed with another well-known peer in the IT industry. With time, members within the family joined the IT bandwagon, some choosing other IT companies and some choosing to be part of the Infosys family :)

With the ever-evolving requirements and aspirations, members moved out and in from Infosys and other companies. Currently, while there are a couple of more family members working with Infosys, we three cousins are headed towards an innings which will score a cumulative half-a-century of years in their journey with Infosys. As you can imagine and can make out from the names, the cricket lovers we are, in this innings the three of us put together, are headed towards “Fifty” years of Infosys in 2020!

These years have given the three of us vast experience, truckloads of opportunities to serve Infosys from being within India, the US and the U.K., our identity, bring-out the best in us professionally and personally and that prestigious Infosys Awards of Excellence too!!

Grammatically, “Important” means having a great effect on people or things; of great value. Every occasion, everyone and every situation has a Very Very Important Person (V.V.I.P). And by now, you will all know in V.V.I.P, the key letter is “I” and who is that V.V.I.P in this key innings of V(ijay) V(enkat) Infosys and P(rasanna).

Together, we say - Thank you, Infosys!