In my growing years I liked watching amateur DJs who would pull the right chords and push the right buttons and yet could not make the mix come alive. Younger still, I watched with glee, the freaky moves when water and oil would push each other, in the jar, and the later would emerge as winner and stay on top ! Some things in life would just not mix. In the initial days at the new location of Bangalore,  looking at the brand new employees, I felt exactly the same… some things in life would just not mix!

The Bangalore edition of Bharatonline was launched on 20^th day of May at the Old Airport Road beside ‘The Leela’s.’  Within a month’s time, the place became inhabited by 32 travel enthusiasts disguised as employees!  All the 32 came from various walks of life, and the new office, in no time, was buzzing with activity.

We did have a sound induction round, an introduction round, and all the ice breaking formalities, but to no avail. Whenever a couple of them got to talking to each other, a moment of uncomfortable silence would inevitably follow. How many times have we seen this in our own lives that whenever we get to meet a stranger, we often end up being muffled, no matter how badly we wanted to talk! At the end of the first month, I observed the formation of tiny groups, as most of us had struck a comfort zone with each other.

It was during these days that we realized that gelling should be further encouraged, and decided to up the ante by turning on the party meter. Partying had almost become a ritual with us, with most of us, always caught thinking of the craziest reasons to party! A poll was thus thrown up and most us agreed to have an open air party, so the natural choice was ‘Unwind Island’.

The following day was a revelation of sorts! The ones who would generally maintain a low profile were the ones who were geared up the most.  In fact the clock just needed to strike 4’ and out came the L’Oreal’s and the Maybellines and of course the celestial shimmering dresses! Oh! Did I leave out the guys? Ah well, I might have to say that the guys were a bit undid by the girls this time around!

Unwind Island, as we discovered was a nice place to sit out and relax. What better, it even had a theme discotheque attached. As expected, our crowd seemed to disperse gradually, moving closer to the comfort groups. But this time around we had a smart plan up our sleeves. We gathered all of them and started off with our ‘Know-ur-Co’ round! This was a unique game that gave an opportunity for everyone to know each other and also have a sneak–peek into what others felt about them.  Everyone had to write the most dominant trait in them, on a piece of paper along their names on it and submit. After submission, let’s say person A would stand up and the others would start guessing about his dominant trait. The person who comes closest to guessing the trait will get a star. At the end, employees with the maximum number of stars would walk away with cool gift hampers!  The game was a huge success! I got reviews ranging from, “oh Rajiv is quite a shy guy” to “Rajiv must be like a big time extrovert”. People freely expressed opinions on co-workers, got to know each other well and to top it all, started liking each other. The ice was thus broken.

We could hear the distant howling in the Disco cave, and in no time we all caved in.  Lights, booze, dance and joy and none of us spared a thought in shaking a leg and effuse in the free spirit.  While spinning hard on the dance floor, I recognized my old friend DJ Summit!

In my growing years I liked watching amateur DJs who would pull the right chords and push the right buttons and yet could not make the mix come alive.  Samit (as he was then called) was one of them. Today, watching Samit, in fact DJ Summit perform live, I do dispose off my old theory…  Some things in live just don’t mix. Given the right push and ambience, things do mix…. As was evident from my fresh colleagues, who had arrived as strangers, but headed back as new best buddies!