Miss Beamish!

 

One of the brightest things in the studio is undoubtedly Ananya's smile. Full toothed, absolutely happy and totally infectious! You cant help but smile back and that too happily! 

You walk into the studio and if Ananya's not engrossed in her laptop, with her headphones on, working frantically to meet deadlines, you are certain to be smiling away just looking at her smile. 

Ananya is the Chief Marketing person, our ardent HR executive, the one who maintains all communications - between clients as well as between all of us. Maintaining peace and order especially in office and mostly between Sai and I as we 'discuss and debate' design ideas. So that smile of hers works like magic. 

You can feel it when you talk to her. You know there is that smile when you read her mails, you are happy and smiling like her when you go through her blogs. Her smile is her stamp and you will know it and will most likely be smiling now if you have met her, spoken to her or read er blogs. 

When Ananya got through the Teach For India program 2 months back and told us that she would want to give that a go, both Sai and I were truly happy for her and excited at her excitement. Its only when we sat back and thought about it that we realised how much we would miss her. Even now I cant imagine the studio without Ananya and her corner and that smile. 

But there is good news! Its Ananya and she can never miss out on anything so we will be graced with all of her 32 pearly whites every Saturday for sure and whenever else she is free and missing us which I am hoping is often :-) 

She would still be a part of Sandarbh. Managing all that she is involved and knowing her, a little more! 

The studio is ever transitioning for us  because of the number of interns who come in every semester. The constants for me in this has been Ananya, Harshita and Sulu. Now Harshita is not there and Ananya will not really be there. ( Sulu, ever so glad you are still there! ) 

Ananya, I am just glad right now that you are still in Bangalore and still with us! That smile of your will be something I so look forward to every weekend now! :-) 

Stay beamish always! 

Nostalgia

It's been a year since I officially became a part of the Sandarbh family, a year since the day I got my confirmation for an internship.It feels like a lifetime ago, so much has happened since and yet I remember the day in vivid detail as though it was yesterday.
It was a lazy morning for we were done with our internals but I was still freaking out trying to find an internship. In a last ditch attempt I decided to call a few firms to follow up - Sandarbh coincidentally being the first. Owing to network issues I stepped out of the house and dialled the number to be greeted with Sai's voice on the phone. The interview as one would call it was shorter and more informal than I had been prepared for. The entire team sat around the phone and asked me about myseld, my work and my life. By the end of the conversation I was offered the internship and had accepted it too. I remember being completely overwhelmed. The moment I entered the house, I told my mom I got an internship , barely believing it myself. It perhaps took the rest of the day for that bit of information to settle in.
And that was that. I was a part of Sandarbh and it's been quite a journey - there were great days, a lot of good days and some that I'd rather not recall. I miss the morning meetings around Sai's table discussing work or the evenings we all spent together just chatting away. Each person had their own place in the office, their own role, their own quirks. There's so much one could write and yet one blog doesn't seem nearly enough.
Lots has happened since I came back home too - a lot of the on-going projects were wrapped up and new projects have started (some still in the design stage while others are already progressing on site). The Sandarbh family grows day by day (quite literally) and like any family, there have been some bitter sweet good-byes too. But goodbyes aren't forever and this blog is a proof of that. Slowly many anniversaries will follow and each will bring a fresh wave of nostalgia - first day at work, first site visit, first client meeting... A lot of firsts that I couldn't have even imagined. And maybe this is the first of many more blogs to come, many more memories to share, many more experiences to write about...

-Mannat