I want to introduce this person with an incident.
Last year, in December 2021, we were in a meeting with ICICI and Avanti. We had to walk them through the issue we were facing. Their API gave an incorrect response.
For people who know, it was eNACH API giving dummy success response. In short, it was not working.
(If you are at Indihood, you would know about the thrilling encounters with ICICI. It took us two weeks of mails and escalations just to get them on a call. :D)
I was not nervous for a change. Because I knew the issue inside out, had been looking at it for a month now.
So, I started sharing my screen to show them what I had done at least 10 times before. I did it for the 11th time on call in front of 10 other people. And the API started working as expected. (Probably, in their respect, but to my absolute horror, because it didn't work before)
I was screwed. How was I supposed to explain why this had started working now, when it was not working just the day before. And had not been working since the last month if not more.
Plus, with so many senior folks watching, I was drowning deep and deep in my own confusion and anxiety!
Then Zareer said- We'll create some more instances of the issue and share them with you when we encounter the same issue again. And started talking about some other questions we had on our plate.
I was still trying to figure out what was happening. And after 5 minutes, the API started to NOT WORK. Never had I been so happy to see something NOT WORKING.
But before I could explain what had happened and what was happening and our concerns, Zareer had already seen that on my screen and explained the issue.
I was relieved. Just so relieved! The day was saved and we were able to show them the dummy success response issue.
Later after the call, when I processed what had happened! I understood why Zareer is Zareer!
For those few moments, when we could not show what we intended to, Zareer was probably more embarrassed and in shock than I was but he still shielded me!
If I was in his place, in his shoes at that moment, I might have lost my temper and scolded Vidhi on the call for wasting the time of so many people!
The way he had his wits around in that situation, and more so the way he shielded the person he probably thought was an idiot! was so filmy (I could have used a better word, but this conveys the feeling :D).
He shielded me at the time when he probably thought I was wrong, not when he knew I was right.
In those few minutes I learned more about him than I had learned in a year. He is the person I would like to work for and work with. And I realised he must be the same for everyone here. A leader who stands by his team and brings out the best in them.
In those few minutes I saw a glimpse of the substance it takes to lead a team.
One more instance – which I fondly remember is when I had to write a release document for eNACH. I had spent a lot of time writing it and thought it was perfect. Nothing amiss!
Then one day, Zareer finally found some time to review it. Next morning I woke up with around 30 comments on the document.
And that day, we have a call and went through it line by line. And in an hour or so, we converted a testing document to a release document. (What I had written seemed like a testing document. I could differentiate it from a release document only after implementing Zareer’s inputs).
I cannot pinpoint exactly what I learnt from that day! Of course how to write a release document! But it is a happy memory for some reason.
It is like- reading a book, all by yourself. Then re-reading it many times till you know it by heart. And then one day reading it with your friend line by line, and discussing each line, each character, every nitty gritty detail, all ideas and going home with a happy feeling – of knowing the book better and reading and discussing it with a friend.
Zareer is the face of TechOps at Indihood. He is my manager (in corporate lingo). I don't have a parallel to draw yet. But if I have to, he will probably be Sirius Black! (Rest, I leave it to your imagination)
The first time I spoke to him, in my interview, I found him interesting because he took everything negative about me as a positive. (Which is rare!)
He also said - We just believe in doing the right thing always. Such a simple philosophy, no jargons, no big words, again a rare simplicity!
Since then I have known him to be a person who can explain stuff very simply and clearly. Ironically, I don't know how to explain how it is different and better compared to most people! Let's say, having some information and presenting it in the best way in the best words, is something Zareer does every single time he says something. (What is surprising is, he does that mostly on the spot).
We haven’t had many conversations, so I don’t have many stories to recount. He is a busy person! And there are many more like me vying for his time!
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