Blooming Logica

It is 29th April, 2009. I first spoke to Veronica , Malti and Jeroen. I was filled with motivation when they shared their views on the ‘Bloom’ project , an initiative of Logica. I always wanted to contribute to something which is noble , but didn’t know what. Thanks !! to Veronica, Malti and Jeroen for giving me that opportunity.

I started off working for the project, along with my Dutch colleagues Gerrit ,Vincent , Ruud, Mark , Geert. And from India, it was Animesh. Mary, Shivakumar and Baskaran joined the team bit later.

Mostly , we consult with each other through Outlook and Microsoft Communicator . And it is really surprising to see how these two tools can be used to share information effectively. My Dutch colleagues are really co-operative and respond to all our queries. Its great working with them.

Gerrit and Vincent arrived in Bangalore on 14th June, 2009 (Sunday). The purpose of the visit was to meet Indian colleagues and also go to MV Foundation in Hydrabad and understand the requirements from the user perspective.

For me, it was the first time I would meet the Dutch team face to face . And it was a great experience. Did I mention, that Lieke Rozendal, a student doing research on corporate collaboration from HIVOS also arrived along with Gerrit and Vincent?

Veronica, arranged a small tour of Bangalore for us (Gerrit , Lieke , Vincent , Shivakumar , Animesh and me) on Sunday afternoon. The Idea was to show our guests a bit of Bangalore . We all had a good time, getting to know each other and visiting places. We really had fun. Shivakumar invited us to his house and served us “Upma” and “Chai” (Tea). Gerrit, Vincent and Lieke liked the Indian dish (hopefully) and also got to see a South Indian family . It was a new experience for them.

The next day (Monday), the trio visited Bangalore Logica office. While Gerrit, Vincent, Mary, Animesh and me were busy discussing the technical aspects of the application we are developing, Lieke was taking notes of the corporate environment inside Logica, taking views of the employees for her research.

We all went for lunch around 1:30 PM to cafeteria. The cafeteria was surprisingly crowded, as our Logica Cultural department organised a musical event at the very place. My Dutch colleagues were thrilled to see so many people having lunch at one place. After great difficulty, we got a place to sit and have lunch.

In the evening that day , my Dutch colleagues had to leave for Hyderabad. They left around 4:00 PM. And a big thanks to Lieke for giving us the Dutch Cookies, they were so tasty and I really liked them. Unfortunately I had to share them with Animesh ,Mary and Shivakumar (frankly I didn’t wanted to share).

This whole experience meant a lot to me. Thanks to Veronica , Malti and Jeroen for taking such an initiative. It can be clearly seen, how boundaries and distance can disappear, for one noble cause. I wish and I know such initiatives will be taken more often in Logica. I am sure , Logica will soon become an example to other IT Players to take such initiatives .

Happy working!

Thansk & Regards,
Ashok K Aritakula