When you have the courage to say Goodbyes.. Life will greet you with new “Hello’s”!!

When you have the courage to say Goodbyes.. Life will greet you with new “Hello’s”!!

I was greeted with a very warm Hello, 8.7 yrs back on June 2^nd 2011. Since then, it has taken a battalion of extremely able people, to make my journey with Vodafone Idea a truly memorable one !

Brij : You truly lived up to being a “Friend indeed”. Thank you for recommending Ashutosh to consider interviewing me at least once… had it not been for that small push, I’d probably never be writing this email..

Ashutosh : The world needs more Men like You..! It does take a lot of courage to employ a lady who has been on a sabbatical of 3 long years to come back and start handling operations - You showed that grit ! I wish all men were alike in that sense… to bestow trust in women wanting to re-start their careers after a break ! You set the foundation for my years ahead with Vodafone, and it sure was a very strong one. I respect the sense of detailing you demanded from me and how patiently you had to put up with my ignorance of technical detail. It was these very qualities that we both strived to develop in myself, which helped me in my future roles. Thank You so much for being my best college senior

ever! J

Mr. Khatri : “You give a man some Fish and you feed him for a day. You teach a man ‘how’ to fish and you feed him for a lifetime !!“ I was only an ‘IBM middleware technologies / EAI’ resource before I fell into your hands - You taught me Telecom !! I would’ve never dreamt of understanding areas as varied as Dedupe to Interconnect, had it not been for your urge to ‘Coach’ me. When I stood up there in London as a Global Hero receiving the honour from Vittorio, the one person I missed was You – that was truly your award ! I was only receiving it on Your Behalf ! I owe every bit of the name, fame and honour to You – I always will. There will never be anyone I’d meet even in future, who would be as invested in my progress as You are ! Thank You Sir for being my best Coach !

Naresh Sir : Our’s may have been the shortest Boss-Subordinate association, but the smiles and laughs we’v shared while handling elephant sized issues with <<-->>, made the journey enjoyable. I salute you for your willingness to be open to your team member’s suggestions. However grave / trivial they may sound, you always had a patient ear and an open mind ! I still haven’t found an answer to your question : why would a global hero award winner want an AO hero award .. ? J

Vimit : It’s probably easier to hire talent for a job. It’s difficult to get a emotionally disturbed resource, to focus on delivering outcomes to the extent of the organization believing that You’ve hired the best man for the job ! When my entire family went through our most emotionally draining period, You uplifted my morale and helped me focus on my deliverables! You kept me away from the thoughts of taking yet another break in my career.  I’ve always said this because I firmly believe it – if there is just 1 person who is the best fit to lead the BA team, it is You. The human touch to you add to your interactions, makes you the best people manager we BAs ever had ! Thank You so much for being ‘You’ !

Mayuri : The sense of admiration I have, for your ability to handle the expanse, complexity and variation of architectural implementations is beyond express-able. Your ability to break humongous problems into chewable pieces and simplify solutions is what I am still trying to practice repeatedly, to the extent of making it a habit. In the barely 1.5 yrs we’ve spent together, there is a lot I have learned by watching you conduct white boarding sessions, evaluating options and presenting them in a convincing fashion to the extent of getting the results you desired ! A quality no ordinary being can master ! There will be opportunities galore when in future, I will recall your line of thinking.. after-all, whatever little I know of Solution / Integration architectures, I’ve learned from You ! Thank You so much for mentoring me and always guiding me with the much needed perspectives, which, only someone with Your experience could bring in…

Nirupmay Sir : The growth and development of People is probably, the highest calling of Leadership and if there is one leader who knows the pulse of his people, it will always be You Sir ! You’ve put me in the right places at the right times, even before I could ask for it. I would have been on a lost track, on a long winding road, feeling unhappy about having to carry on doing operations – a role I never planned to pursue as long term, but accepted for the lack of better prospects. For me, you will always be that God sent angel who had the magical abilities to put my career back on the right path – a path I planned to pursue when I started out as a Middleware consultant with Satyam, way back in 2004 ! I have seen myself transform under your Leadership. To change from an aggressive, loud personality, to an assertive, amicable one was easier when I was under your influence. I am always conscious of the one statement you made “Your brand is what people say about You when you are not around – what is your brand ? ”. As I set foot onto a completely unknown turf, I will surely try to create a brand, inspired by your candor, cause that is how I believe, I will rightly flourish as a professional ! Thank you sir and I will truly miss having You as “My Leader” !

A little bit of me - I will leave behind, a little bit of you - I will carry along. With every step I take forward, I will surely learn to move on… but I don’t think I will ever be able to leave…

I will miss you all dearly..

Wishing you the best that life has to offer…

-          Sayli

P.S: I never intended for this email to be this long.. hoping the name highlights reduced your reading time..

Regards,

Sayli A. Yadav

Solution Manager - Integration & ESS

Demand & Solution Management

Wishing Each One of You, THE BEST LIFE EVER ! :)

Hi – Good Morning..

Today, as the curtains come down on my 8.7 year long stint with Vodafone Idea, I cannot help but feel proud of having belonged to an organisation that was repeatedly, the most loved employer & consumer brand - and contributing to that, was every one of you .. all of our Partners (----) are the ones I worked very closely with. As I look back, the numerous exchange of views, counter-views, white boarding, brainstorming, evaluating options, went a long way in ensuring I learned from each one of you. You have been the very reason behind an enriched experience I carry out from here. I fall short of words to express my gratitude to You – Thank You !!

To me, Vodafone Idea has been no less than a finishing school of sorts….

To begin as a purely technical resource handling IT operations to graduating as an Integration Solutions Architect,

from walking in as an unsure, nervous mother back from a sabbatical.. to being a confident young professional presenting the work of IT to the Execo,

from being a men-tee to being a mentor to fresh graduates & new joiners,

from making small beginnings with the AO Hero to winning the Annual Global Hero award,

from hosting distinguished leaders at the IT town halls, to meeting CxOs,

from walking the red carpet in London to being the face of the Employer Brand,

from having an hour long extempore interview with the x-CEO to appearing on the TV channel (even if it meant only for a few mins),

from beginning with lessons in teamwork to getting lessons in Leadership,

from being called the 1^st lady of Technology to being known as a woman in the Zen state...

As I look back and reflect, my professional journey with VIL, made me feel like a ‘Super Star’ on most days… and yet, I swore and lived by my values of humility and utmost trust in my relationships with peers and seniors alike. I tried my best to never carry the baggage of success, but rather, the lessons from my failures to progress onto my subsequent challenging roles.

I cannot thank each one of you enough, for having contributed to my growth and well being. For having being there, when I needed your perspectives, opinions, knowledge and advice ! Thank You so very much for being a good Samaritan and a great Companion on my journey here.. ! You made it truly memorable…

A journey that’s been decorated with momentous occasions and landmark events, which I will savour for the rest of my life !

Wishing each one of you, THE BEST LIFE EVER ! :)

Stay Blessed ! :)

-Sayli 

  

Regards,

Sayli A. Yadav

Solution Manager - Integration & ESS

Demand & Solution Management

Dearest 10 Year Old Avani...

1^st June 2019 – Happy 10th Birthday Dearest Ava !!  

It’s a Hap-Hap-Happy Birthday ! A Hap-Happy Birthday to You ! 😊

Take a bow, take a bow, on your birthday, your birthday, show them how, show them how, on your birthday, a Hap-Happy Birthday to You !!  😊

Dearest 10 year old Avani !!  😊

As I start to pen this, Daddy is driving us through the ‘orange trees laden streets’ of Valencia – a beautifully laid out Spanish City of Arts & Sciences, famous for its futuristic complex of museums & theatres. What better way to bring in your birthday with a Summer Vacation break in Spain – one of the many cultural centres of Europe, the land of Flamenco music and dance, bullfights, fantastic beaches and lots of sunshine.

As you’re seated in the front seat with Abhijeet kaka, your chirping doesn’t stop – so really, that’s the one thing that hasn’t changed since the time you started to mumble as a baby!  😊  When inquisitive & chirpy kids like you go silent, it’s usually a cause of concern. A signal that your child is showing signs of withdrawal – and I would never ever want that! So, continue to be, the sparkling self that you are!  😊

I’m sure, your “what’s, why’s n how’s” will only get amplified and applied, in seeking answers to anything and everything – from “why can’t we have a pet dog?”, to the very existence of this universe. !  😊

As you turn 10 today, I can’t help but take myself back in time to being your age. I had just finished my primary schooling until 4^th grade, in Narmada Education Socierty’s Dr. JW Iryan English Medium School in Satara. We had shifted to Pune in our 1^st self-owned house, resulting from the innate desire of Abba and Lata Aajji to educate their children in the famously known “OXFORD of the east” !

Abba had made innumerable attempts at ensuring I got an admission to a convent school. Coming from an English medium in Satara, to a convent in Pune, I battled my own sense of insecurities as a 10 year old. My command over English was extremely poor, I had no idea what Grace, Poise or Diction meant – a criteria used to set the benchmark for “ladies-in-becoming” at the convent of Jesus n Mary’s St. Joseph High School Pashan ! It took me about a year, to get over my inferiority complex and soon, I too walked around with a sense of dignity and pride, a sense of belonging to my school and to our new house, that I still fondly call my “Real Maher” – cause that’s where I grew up with Anant Mama, Lata Aajji and Aabba - from a child to a teen to an adult!   😊

In those terms, I see a lot of the “Younger-Sayli” in Avani !   😊 Your sense of nationalism that comes from watching / playing a sport [while you chose badminton and I chose hockey], your divine sense of belonging towards the school, your overflowing love for family and friends, a great set of friends to call your besties, the way you unapologetically express yourself – nice, loud and clear, how well you are able to reason out arguments and express your disappointments, how cheerful you are with the smallest of wins and equally graceful with handling failures!

Over the last year, you have been more than a daughter to me - You’re like my guardian angel,  😊 and I dearly love you so !  😊 As much as I love to give you varied perspectives on things - that you like to call solutions,  😊 you’ve made my life a lot easier with yours!  😊 And If there’s anything Daddy and Me wish for you, it is hoping that you are able to take more care of your eyes, apart from starting to write your book of “Values! “

And before I sign off, I wish to reinforce the dreams you’ve had as a child – at a tender age of 7, you already knew, exactly what, you wanted in life! Following in the footsteps of Mayura Attu, You wish to become a doctor for small children (child specialist / paediatrician). Inspired by Abba and Lata Aaji’s house, You wish to own a bungalow with not one, but two dogs  😊 – you even knew the breed of the dogs you want – a Mastif and a Boxer !!! (and Daddy always says German Shepherd) You want  2 children post marriage to a loving husband, a Girl and a Boy apart from the 2 dogs!!  😊

You also felt that Mayura Attu doesn’t charge any money for treating her patients and hence you would treat your patients for free!!  😊 I still laugh on recalling Daddy’s reaction to that !!  😊 However, at the same age of 7 you’ve been novel enough to say, that you don’t want a lot of money, but just enough money for our family and the house. And that’s why, after having that much, you would treat children free of cost, which I think you very well must!!

Remember, we are all here for bringing about a positive change in this world, through our Values, Knowledge, Wisdom and Work, and hence, it is always a responsibility of the privileged to uplift the less-privileged!

Lata Aajji also has a dream, that her grandchildren should be Nobel-laureates – I hope you achieve this for all of us through your great work!!

Wishing you a very Happy & a Healthy New Birthday Year June 2019- June 2020 !!  😊

Here’s Mumma making a promise to write you a letter for each of your birthday’s hereon – so stay tuned for the next !  😊

Loads of Love, Hugs, Cuddles n Kisses !  😊

-Mumma  😊