Tech-lit-ical Diaries #3

Posted on 02 Sep 2016 09:09 in Shimbi Insights
by Tisha John

My next interview was scheduled with Mrs Bhawana Panchpande, probably the bubbliest and the happiest person at ShimBi Labs! 

You and I must’ve come across one famous saying about laughter-  that it is the greatest medicine. But greatest medicine to what exactly? To those double layered folds on our foreheads due to stress? To that ugly frown? Or is it that laughter is the medicine for a good, long and happy life? Before I crowd you with questions, I'm pretty sure your colleague Mrs Bhawana Panchpande can answer this best!

 

So yes, my next interview was scheduled on the 14th of June, 2016 at 10 am with Mrs Bhawana Panchpande, the Sr. Software Engineer at ShimBi Labs. But if I were to define Bhawana ma'am in my words I would rephrase it thus: My next interview was scheduled with Mrs Bhawana Panchpande, probably the bubbliest and the happiest person at ShimBi Labs! 

 

If I expected a Sr. Software Engineer to be a solemn person I was mistaken, for I was met on the other side of the phone with a light voice and an interview of almost 30 minutes that was coated in giggles and bubbliness. Yet another stress-free employee at ShimBi Labs!

 

Bhawana ma’am is a native of Pune itself and completed her Msc. in Computer Science from Pune University. Following her marriage in 2010, she was referred to ShimBi Labs by her friend and after a round of interviews and selection process, joined ShimBi Labs in 2011. I barely needed to ask her how was the experience when she happily chirped away “it has been a wonderful journey and experience at ShimBi Labs and all my colleagues are very friendly. “ *giggles* she happily recalls, amidst an avalanche of giggles that Pradhnya is her first friend at ShimBi Labs. I was pleasantly surprised at how she held a position work pressure and still could be amused at little things which we mostly tend to overlook!

 

If I am a “right?” person, Bhawana ma'am was an “actually” person and over the course of our interview I lost count of the number of times her sentences started with a cute “actually na…” and ended with her girlish giggles!

 

My moment of embarrassment arrived when she asked me if I spoke Hindi.  Now it was my chance to giggle and start what would be an embarrassing confession with an “actually na..”. I had learned Hindi till my 8th grade. More like mugged up I would say. We were taught by a very chubby Tr. Thilothama and all I remember were my frivolous efforts to by-heart the long answers and be done with 8th grade. So very ashamedly do I confess that my Hindi is very elementary. But Bhawana ma'am, easy person hat she is, chose to laugh this away and our interview continued in English. 

 

She spoke to me of how she joined ShimBi Labs without knowing much and how her mentor guided and moulded her into handling complex projects today. Out of sheer curiosity, I asked her who her guide/mentor was, half knowing the answer. Seconds later she answered me “Kailash sir! Kailash sir! Kailash sir!” (at this point I would thank Siddharth I got to interview Kailash first itself, for each interview left me feeling a fan-worship kinda awe towards the tech genius at ShimBi Labs and I'm sure to have had butterflies if I had known who I was going to interview!)

 

Forgive my arrogance at flaunting my tech-ignorance at ShimBi Labs platform but she seemed to tell me she was currently engaged in an erm.. what I heard to be an “Odyssey “ project which I later tried to convert to “ODC” project. I have no idea except that it was a Japanese project, and I concluded it might be a Japanese term…. or, as is more probable- something sensible in the tech world, but which made zero sense to someone like me! The second thing I know about this “ODC” project is that Bhawana ma'am seeks technical guidance from Kailash sir and logical guidance from Siddharth. Save these; the rest is all Greek to me!

 

Her overcoat of Sr. Software Developer at ShimBi Labs was shed when she started to open up about herself, her hobbies, her family, etc. Harbouring a love for travelling, she told me Kerala was one among the places she and her family had visited and loved. As would come innately to a native of Kerala, this instantly struck a cord of connection between us and I made her repeat the place names she's been to. She praised my place and our traditional dances, and I glowed with pride as if I had fathered them all! 

 

Among her hobbies included her love for music *giggles* and as she hummed two lines of her favourite song ‘hume thumse pyaar karthe’  I pictured her bubbly self-singing it to me over the phone from the ShimBi  Labs office in Pune. She stopped abruptly, and I imagined someone gave her the eye. Tut tut. She was just warming up. She shyly stopped with a ‘bas bas ha’. Someone seriously did give her the eye!

 

5+ years into marriage should make you grow out of blush when you talk of your spouse... or should it? No prior experience to tell from! Anyways, I asked about her husband, and I was instantly met with a whole round of giggles! She spoke with unabashed pride about her husband, about his shared love for travelling and his love for reading and books. He is from the mechanical field, and neither of them knows much about the other’s area of expertise and this, as she shared- amounted to familial peace!  (Tip notes Bhawana ma'am!) 

 

More rounds of giggles followed as the interview speeded to the topic of her darling daughter Sreesha. “She's naughty..*giggles*..she's very naughty” was the first thing Bhawana ma'am described her daughter. Sreesha loved to dance and sing and she took all of Bhawana mama's weekends, which the latter was glad to give. 

 

I asked her how motherhood changed her and for the first time no bouts of giggles followed, but peaceful silence. She told me she wasn't usually this speechless and all that she could tell of her dear Sreesha was that she had changed her and “I love her”. Did I have to ask more? It sounded complete to me.

 

It took me by surprise that 30 minutes had passed. It flew infact. She was an easy conversationalist to be with and I wish this bubbly ma'am more years of happiness!

 

Ciao till the pen comes again!



About the author

Tisha John  
A Masters student in English at the University of Hyderabad, I would love to explore new vistas of learning and writing.



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