Separation

Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything. It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it.

- Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Tweek vs. Craig, 1999

This was the last mail I sent out at PharmARC Analytic Solutions to few colleagues with whom I had either worked on projects with or folks who were close to the heart. Yes, it was that time I hate most when someone changes jobs; the time to say GOODBYE!

I had known and heard of this place a long while ago, actually since its inception in 2004. Sreeni had told me about the company when we met. I was a GP in a non-descript suburb of Bangalore at that point of time.

I moved on to a scientific content management company and later started my own company with a couple of friends. One fine day, I decided to call it quits due to personal issues and called Sreeni. I asked him to refer my candidature to any place he knew. He was worried and told me that I might find it difficult to work for someone after being an entrepreneur. But what was in store in PharmARC was nothing short of an entrepreneurial role. A company that gave enough freedom of thought and action, this place helped me grow in confidence and add skill sets that were alien to me.

Some pleasant memories come back to me about the various people whom I met and interacted in PharmARC.

Amit – our fearless leader; a man with a crazy idea of Pharmaceutical sales and marketing analytics firm based in Bangalore telling clients how to run their business better.
Siraj – I have never seen a more objective person than him.
Malthesh – my friend and guide; a humble being who gave me work life’s most important lesson, no task is mundane and demeaning.
Sreeni – my younger brother of sorts
Anjan – the resource who taught me the nuances of Epidemiology
Rohit – the epitome of integrity
Raghu – the epitome of flexibility
Nisha and Cyril – the best resources a manager can ever have (I had once told Rohit that they are like Ekalavya)
Raj – a lot of my exposure to clients would be due to his confidence in my ability
Senthil – the CI guru
Varsha – spread happiness like the first rain
Krishna – our Kroogle Gyani
Ashish – my formal mentor
Rajkumar – my informal mentor
Vijay – the John in our Abhi-John pair
The HR angels, my cab mates, the finance folks, the facilities guys, the admin staff, the people I met and interacted on my onshore trips, the BD team, the other functional teams at PharmARC, my Epidemiology team, the entire lot of Pharmacians… every one of these will stay etched in my memory for a long way to go and some for a lifetime.

But the most painful part of the separation will definitely be saying bye to ‘MY TEAM’; the medical services team. There was a mutual love and respect that the team and I shared. As they say, “A manager is as good as the team he works with”. I had “THE BEST TEAM” in the world to support me. Each one of them (though I am not taking names here) will be part of my nostalgic thoughts of PharmARC.

Long after I am gone, I hope people still remember me as I will remember them. I know for sure that my cubicle mates will not let anyone take my desk for quiet some time.

Amit believes that an ordinary resource can do extraordinary work if provided with the right kind of atmosphere and support. Though I did not achieve anything extraordinary, I am an example of what an ordinary resource can achieve in a company like PharmARC. I wish everyone in PharmARC success in work and life and hope they continue their journey to make PharmARC the leading company in the world for sales and marketing analytics support.

And yes… I will miss the next PharmARC offsite, wherever it is that the Pharmacians will go next.