Building a Team, a Family and a Life

Blog 15 of 30

Much more work followed. it was at the time of the IT boom. I had done a single course in Pascal programming while I was in the US and was married to a man who was a computer engineer. It followed that I was familiar with computer terminology and language. This familiarity led to more projects, and it became necessary to add people.

And so, I added people. Sumita, a young single mother whose husband had been in the air force and had tragically died in an air crash. She was smart, capable and gave me much needed support for content development.

Neeraja who I had known and played with as a child was now married and had moved into a house down the road from me. I ran into her at my son’s play school, and we reconnected after years. She had two young daughters and a creative streak and was happy to join us.

Soon Neeraja’s co-sister (that is such an Indian term!!!) Lakshmi, who had two young sons joined us and roped in her friend Sonya.

We were a vibrant group in the office, and what was more, everyone was on the same wavelength and got along well. The children were all in the same age range and enjoyed playing together. With flexible hours, job sharing and the freedom to bring the children in, it was a fulfilling time for all of us both personally and professionally.

It was interesting that some of them came from families with large and thriving businesses, but the concept of part time work was not understood or accepted in those days. not even within the family. In later years they all moved on and some of them joined the family business. I used to joke that when the husbands realised how brilliant their wives were, they stole them away from Masterpage.

The other highlight was the children. Ten little boys and girls all within the same 3 to 4 years of age were a delight to have around. The days were filled with fun as we took turns to supervise the children. It channelled our creativity in putting together games and plays and treasure hunts and more. When my mother and father visited, they became grandparents to the whole group… they enjoyed the children and the children revelled in the pampering.

Today, when the children recall some of these annecdotes, I feel satisfied that I gave them happy memories. Not a single festival went uncelebrated whether it was having a potter over to celebrate Pongal, putting together a play, or taking a trip to the zoo.  I had invested in a Maruti van into which, we would bundle the kids and take off.

My children had very few cousins in the extended family, so these children formed a bond of strong friendships that have stood the test of time. It was a wonderful time in my life. My business was growing, I had a great team, I was building wonderful relationships, the children were making great friends and we were all having fun. Life was wonderful!