Quick Heal: A journey to behold

The Journey to behold.... Quick heal

I am sitting in the balcony feeling chilly winds for almost half an hour now. I thought words for this blog post will flow naturally to me, yet; somehow I am twisting and turning on a bean bag with lappy in my lap experiencing something called as bloggers block; if at all it exists.

So many memories, so much that I can think of and somehow I just cannot seem to put it all together.

I close the laptop lid and shut my eyes down or is it the opposite I did? I cannot really fathom what I am doing right now. It’s very easy to twist the reality into fiction, but it’s not so easy to twist the memories into realm or even fiction for that matter.

Today, I am going to let my mind run down the memory lane and wander through the lobbies of Quick heal, just as I’m going to do tomorrow.

I don’t know whether I am dreaming or all of this is really happening, but as I find myself walking towards the building, with every step of mine there is a black out, a fuzzed state which is controlling me. At each step there is a vivid picture splashing across my face. No shit, major karan-arjun melodrama is happening.

I spot someone who looks like me of two years ago; thinner with thicker hair, wearing navy blue shirt, apparently he had read somewhere, “Always wear blue shirts for interview, it leaves a lasting impression”. At the reception there are new faces and suddenly there are old faces. A North eastern guy smiling at me; I instantly recognise that face. He was not just a security guy; he was my friend, although he’s not at QH anymore. He was by far the best carom player I had ever seen and played with. He used to play carom like chess, his every shot a decoy plot for his next shot. King, I don’t know where he is right now, but wherever he is; must be rocking the carom tournaments for sure.

As I swipe my card and walk towards first floor, I see a security personal guiding me, as if I am going for an interview.

On the first floor I find myself in a cabin room, sitting across Mohsin, he is taking my interview, I remember it went on for 1 and half hour, and then jut when I was about to go for Deloitte round he removed blank papers , and said “now let’s solve some puzzles”. He is not here anymore, but I haven’t forgotten, he asked me questions on everything that was on my CV, he selected me and even secretly told me when the next round will be. Forward two and half years later and I am here on 1^st floor conference room giving security testing KT session to Consumer team. Times change, things change.

Second floor is filled with nostalgic memories. There is Vaibhav and Nikita at the entrance cubicle. Over the three years, I have worked with so many developers, and I have never seen anyone like Vaibhav, that guy used to proactively take interest in understanding bugs and solving it, for him, bugs weren’t problems; they were challenges which he took upon with smile on his face. And then there are some other developers who mail everyone “I am surprised to see this issue so late in testing cycle”. Nikita, always bubbly cheerful and anxious when me and Vikram filed bugs, worried as if the whole world was in danger of some apocalypse. These people are not here now, but their memories still fresh in my mind. There’s swapnil sir, ever so smiley face of his and Atul and Mrunal, both very good poets.

Back to the QA side and there are so many familiar faces, there’s Sagar taking performance test reading on his big monitor, there’s Pooja and Sapana greeting me with famous Marathi mhanis and Madhuri, always angry and ready to fight. But this girl Madhuri, I didn’t know she could be such a good friend and trusted confidante, behind the anger there is care and genuine missing.  Prashant, my Game of thrones buddy when chloe left. Preeti, Vaidehi, always occupied with updates and yet quipping with jokes here and there. 

I am at my cubicle, there’s shraddha, and the familiar smell of Iodex, and even she has left now. Countless moments we shared there, chit-chatting, discussing or sometimes just gossiping, all those memories, vaporising in thin air, it’s hard to catch what’s gone and what’s going away.

Third floor, I visit my corner cubicle where I spent my first 6 months at Quick heal, and I see Yogesh sir beside me, telling yogesh bakhale “arey deva, build ganla” , Amit shinde sir asking for IDS/IPS packets. Harshit, circling his ID card, how I can forget him; my first mentor and buddy who taught me how to make coffee.

There’s third floor conference room, this is the place where Amol sir took my interview, I remember all the questions that he asked, the interview went on for around 1 hour and there were 2 questions I didn’t answer convincingly. One was on DHCP, other on captcha. , Ironically, I begin my new journey by enumerating all the captcha based attacks and evasion techniques. I have come a long way since then, and I only have him and other people who gave me the opportunity to thank for.

This is the same conference where I conducted Firewall 2016 session for whole EPS team.

3^rd floor, 10^th August 2014, It was here that we released Quick heal 2015, exactly 1 year after I was at my all time low. 10^th August 2013, my final semester results were out and I had got a backlog in 1 subject, I was at my granny’s place, old car, driving towards Goa, tyre burst and almost banged into a ST bus, all this flashes in front of my eyes. Exactly 1 year later, I was at India’s Number 1 Anti Virus Company, releasing 2015 version, such a proud feeling. Quick heal saved me that year and from then on, hence whatever happens, I will always be grateful towards this company.

4^th and 5^th floor I pass; walking slowly towards the terrace, dragging my feet slowly. Meeting Vishesh on the floor, that guy has made a very good progress in security, such a hardworking talent, i remember he saying jokingly once “aap hi toh guru ho mere, security 2 saal pehle shuru kiya tha tab” . well that guy indeed took up from there and now he is at very high level and getting recognised, really happy for him, there is shruti , sweet and smiley, and ofcourse Anurag and Mayank, the two interns who spent so much time with me, wherever they are, I hope they doing well.

5^th floor, always a saviour from bad days at work, the vintage foosball table, the TT table, I touch the TT table and I am having that nostalgic feeling. Those late night TT games, singles, doubles, till the TT ball broke into pieces, all the smashes and chops and recordings, I am going to miss it all.

I told Saket I am leaving and I am confused between 3 offers, and all he had to say is “bhai, jaha TT table hain, wahi ja” , the serious tone in which he spoke, said it all. There’s Atul ekhande , he and I play a last TT game, I win ofcourse, I remember Atul Masne, who taught me the chop-smash, he was my guru, there’s Suraj,Dhanendra, shshank, Saurabh and sameer with their unique styles. It means so much; this game and the table, I wipe tiny bit of dust settled on it and put it on my forehead, just to give the moment a dramatic feel and walk on.

I give a hard look towards foosball table and carom board and all I can think of is Deepak’s shot and King’s break. I may not have cried on other floors but I might just end up shedding few tears here. Before that happens, I go down and meet my managers.

I meet Mayank and I remember the numerous security projects we worked on, one directly reporting to Sanjay sir. He and I connected a lot on security topics. The day I resigned, we had a meeting for 3 hours, out of which only half n hour he asked me whether he can do anything and spoke about the plans, He understood the reason behind my choice, remaining 2 and half hours we discussed how Quick Heal as a product need to improve, how the bad reviews and overall product quality needs to be improved. Cloud is the new thing, having databases and detection on cloud. And he is working on it, I trust him to take this organization forward, what it needs is total revamping of product architecture. We also spoke about recent negativity surrounding the employees ; the policies and overall tightening after becoming an IPO; the new service based HR’s who are concerned about the numbers etc. The thing is, in product based companies, the people who have been here for longer time and have extensive product knowledge will be hard to replace, sadly, all the talented people are leaving.

But I hope all this negativity is just a storm before clear skies. I really want people here to be happy and I really want this company to do well, the lowly Glassdoor reviews is due to this bad phase everyone going through, the people’s perspective and outlook needs to change. This place was amazing last two years, such an employee friendly company; it has gone down a bit, I won’t lie, I’m sure everyone resonate the same thoughts, but I for once believe the things will change. At the end of the storm there is a golden sky.

In our next subsequent meetings, we keep discussing about the security issues and he keeps telling me, “stay” or “come back after 2 years, I want you here when we have revamped everything” and all I say is “Never say never”.

Even Gaurav sir, has been there for me 2 and half years, and other than few differences here and there, always supported me. The best TL is the one who never says “no” to your leaves, and he has never created any problems for me in that department. Also, when I was given responsibilities of full module in just 3 months of joining Quick heal, it was he who always backed me and stayed available to solve even tiny doubts and variances when testing.  The HR team of old, Ulhas, Archana, Rohini, everyone who took me on board are off board now, in IT this happens I guess, people come and people go, memories remain, the connections remain, that’s what makes LinkedIn the best social network site amongst all, to show the connection, to remember where and how in this big world, we all connected.

I am on terrace again, sitting at our “lunch table”, it was here, that I met so many awesome people, ofcourse, Vishal, Jayant, chloe, all of them have left now. But in them I found solace, their friendship, their care, their support. Vishal was like the mood generator of our lunch group with his PJ’s and timely dialogues, Raghu the organiser, Abhishek the hidden photographer, Vishal A, the anonymous one all are present.

There’s Shalu, even the guys whom I don’t know personally, ask me, “shalu, woh hot hain na? Aapke saath baithti hain lunch ko?”   she has a burning hot image in office, but what I think is she is actually very sweet and innocent personality, a calming presence throughout.

There’s bubbly pooja soman who makes awesome chicken dishes.

Aditya, although he is not our lunch table group, I spot him, he is such a talented person, he has knowledge of everything. Any queries, there’s only one sentence “Aditya ahe na”

Rohit, Ajinkya , seniors, brahma and company, smiling, some way or the other we all are connected, some way or the other I am going to miss them all.

I see Neha, this girl has the most amazing genuine laughter, people make fun of it, but I tell her to laugh it off even more, love it, Mansi, panicky and with her trademark “kitne bure ho tum” dialogues. 

Ketan and Vikram, how can I forget them, my “Bro’s”, Ketan, I run to him for advice on even smallest things, calm presence with the best life advise for you. Vikram, I remember my first day at Quick Heal, it was he who took me for lunch, and from there on, we have ended up working together for 2 and half years now. This guy really has a good patience while testing products, all the VPN, DHCP configuration related task he did while I kept focusing on easier tasks. Countless moments we shared having fun of the “pencil guy” and so many dialogues. Some things are better not disclosed.  

I keep seeing familiar faces and everyone’s name I cannot include in this post. But they all have been equally important part of this journey.

Finally I bid adieu and walk towards the corner table on terrace, this is where it all began, and this is where it all started; the journey as they call it.

I look at that enthusiastic guy writing an aptitude test. At that moment, he had three choices, to go and work in big banking firm, and famous consultancy with whooping package in Bangalore, but he decided to choose Pune and work in this Anti-Virus firm made in India, and it’s the decision I don’t regret. That chap made a right choice to stay with his inner calling- Security.

And tomorrow, at the same juncture he will face with three choices, luckily for him, all three in security, there are pros and cons again, but he has his heart set on one, I have my heart set somewhere, and everything seems perfect. With due respect to other firms, I will have to choose one, and I think I have chosen one.

But this is where it ends, my association Quick Heal, it was a stepping stone of success for me, and whatever happens from here on, Quick heal will always have a soft corner in my heart, just like your first crush, your first love, it eventually ends most of the time, but it leaves a mark somewhere on some old tree or like an imprint in the sand.