I am always fond of five star hotel breakfasts, and I like it when I am perhaps one of the first ones to start sampling the food on display. The new trays of undisturbed food is a turn on for me and thats a sort of fetish you could say. The scrambled eggs were perfect and along with them the soft croissants was a perfect combination to start the day. Slowly the restaurant started filling up with people from all over the country wearing the doled out Blue Network Pullovers. The conversations in different tables were either about the long haul journey or about what the day had in store for us. The Head Office Marketing Teams and some other Seniors perhaps were suffering from their own tension of making sure that the program was a success. After all its all about hype and the sales team needed the injection.
We were all shunted into the audi and after the mandatory speeches we were told that the new machines that would be introduced were kept in a separate hall. Before that we were explained about the new range coming up. A lot of parts in the machines were locally sourced now. The bilingual features were more prominent and now available in the 14" segment too. We were also explained the logic behind the numbering of each machine. Now instead of three digits we would have four and iun case of bilibguals 5. For example a 1252 would mean a 14" carriage machine with 5 Line Backlit display with a memory of 16Kb. When you add a H to that, it would mean with bilingual capability too.
Some us were quickly trying to master the logic of the machine numbers, while others were gorging on the sumptuous menu of features and already making plans of beating PCL and Godrej. Whatever the feelings, we were all united and focused and excited about the immediate future.
Before we came in for the conference the sole job in the field we had was ensuring that customers do not cancel orders. Given that many customers do pay up advances, it was a tough call. When we saw the machines the honest opinion was ofcourse pretty mixed. Suddenly we could see the difference between imported vs indigenous stuff. The quality of the plastics, the feeling of the keys. Surely the environment was compelling us to decrease prices and increase features...as Russel Peters says - Somebody will get hurt. So here I guess it was the quality of the parts that went in.
For a moment we forgot all that and got busy learning the machines. Different classrooms, many teachers and a lot of students all eagerly using their fingers and brains to figure out these new animals. Back Lit Puke Green displays, keys that would go in and not come out (Tactile Feedback theories went out of the window), we were getting used to the bright future. Price was the only driver and I was a kind of weary of what might be in store for us. Maybe Production had made friends with Service to ensure that we earn a lot on Maintenance. As managers we were huddled into some other rooms and dished out Targets and very attractive incentive schemes. The quarter was named DJFM 89 and it was a pretty historic one.
Calcutta Office in any case compared to a Delhi or Mumbai is low profile and given the typical condascending attitude of Northerners regarding work in West Bengal, it was these smaller offices making friends together while the bigger offices were quite busy with themselves!! I knew it, since I was myself part of Mumbai earlier!! Plus SKJ was too protective about his own people from Cal and that was surely an obstacle for some in terms of mixing with others. Thankfully, I was not part of his scheme of things and was saved from such ordeals.
The food was good and the weather was excellent and lunch breaks were welcome. We trained on the machines and were ready for demonstrations armed with pitches against competition. Prices were extremely competitive. So sales would surely happen, but I was a bit circumspect about deliveries given some insider information I had from my friends in the Factory!!
A week went by just like that. The evenings wer full of booze and meat and some suspicious encounters too by opposite genders. From Cal office one of the "couples" even got married later. I understand that she is no more having left the world on her own will!!
This was also a time when the Cal Office guards were changing. SKJ was transferred to Head Office to look after Consumables(Ribbons, DWs, etc) while Wg Cdr Hazra(WCH) of Central Zone fame took charge of Calcutta Office. Later he used to be called Monday Uncle by one of our colleagues sons since that's the day when in the evening he used to keep us all occupied with booze in New Kenilworth Hotel for strategic(sic) discussions which were pure waste of time!!
One of the evenings at Centaur I also met Subhas Guha who had just about joined Network to look after new projects - Letracomp being one of them. Letracomp was a hyped typewriter that could sort of meet printers needs on elementary composition, I met Mr. Guha under entirely different circumstances in Network later in life.
The conference was coming to an end and while we had all come in style the return was chaotic post Delhi. The flight from Srinagar to Delhi was cool and from the airport I took some of my colleagues to my sister's apartment in Green Park for a freshen up. We were given to understand that our journey to Kolkata would be in Third Class Sleeper in the worst train possible from Old Delhi station. From the train I saw WCH coming to distribute some blankets. Me and DP(a colleague) went in search of some coke that would be required for the cocktails. Jai Sri Rum!!! I did not have a berth on my name and so made my bed in the space between the two lower bunks. It was chaotic and there was no excuse. In the midst of these chaos the seniors vanished and we were fending for ourselves. No problem surely, we were the pride of the company - sales guys!!!
The 36 hourrs journey was fun. We sang a lot and I remember these daily passenger college girls who played antakshari with us. In fact I thought Prodipto had a good inclination towards one of them.
DJFM 89...Here we come!!!
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