It’s Time For A Role Reversal

Today, we bring you something a little different. We asked a bunch of questions to those employees who’ve been around right from the start, including the founders. The answers were pretty interesting ;). We present to you, our longest standing BBians – up close and personal!

But hang on…Before that, here’s a surprise! Didn’t you always want to know how these dashing men and lovely ladies looked like when they were blue-eyed boys and dainty girls? Yes? We did, too! So, we asked them to share pictures of their 10-year-old selves with us. Here are those aww-some pictures just for you!

ADHIL SHETTY, CEO

RATI SHETTY, CPO

ARJUN SHETTY, COO

SARITA POVAIAH, HEAD-PRODUCT CREATIVE CONTENT

KESHAV MODI, SENIOR ARCHITECT

SUBRAMONIA, HEAD – DELIVERY OPERATIONS FRAMEWORK TEAM

GAVASKAR, SENIOR MANAGER – WEB DESIGN

PRASHANTHI, SENIOR MANAGER, CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

BABU DAYALAN, SENIOR MANAGER

Wasn’t that just spectacular? Now, let’s get back to the task at hand. Don’t we need to put them through the wringer? So, here we go!

1. If you could be a superhero, who would it be? What superpower would you possess?  

Adhil: Dr Manhattan from the Watchmen. I could teleport versus having to fly in airplanes for meetings.

Rati: I would like to be a superhero who had the superpower, the wit to answer the oddball questions coming my way.

Iype Isaac, Chief Delivery Officer: A superhero who can actually make changes via processes and not a one-off superheroic change. If I could be a member of a legislative party who could make significant changes to improve people’s lives, that is a superpower that I would like to have.

Sarita: As creepy as this is going to sound: Mind-Reader Woman with the ability to tune into (and tune out of) people’s thoughts at will. It would greatly speed up my plans for a new world order. {Cue diabolical laughter}

Keshav: Krishna! Why limit to just one?

Gavaskar: Iron Man, I would possess his flight-suit engineering to suit my requirement and live with it.

Subramonia: Though not one of the superheroes, I have always been fascinated by Sherlock Holmes. I love the way he quotes a dozen of those stunning observations in quick succession, all equally brilliant. I have always imagined myself doling out solutions one after the other the moment I came across a problem at work, much like Sherlock did.

Prashanthi: I want to be Iron Man because he proves that science and technology are always the best superpowers. I would like to possess the power of flying. Flying would be really awesome. With the power, the first thing I would probably do is fly high, feel the wind, enjoy the view.

Babu Dayalan: That would be Vulcan with the power to Time Travel.

2. What songs best describe your work ethic?

Adhil: Daft Punk – ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’. 

Arjun: Lose Yourself by Eminem

Rati: I really like the words of the song ‘The Greatest’ by Sia.

Iype: Daft Punk – ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’.

Sarita: Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold. When it comes to content, there’s just no pleasing everyone. Some like it hot, some like it cold, and some like it in the pot, nine days old.
Whistle While You Work by Louis Armstrong.

Keshav: ‘Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi’ (Swades) 

Gavaskar: ‘It’s My Life’ by Bon Jovi

Subramonia: ‘O Mitwa, Sun Mitwa’ from Lagaan.

Prashanthi: Katy Tiz – ‘Whistle While You Work’ – for interesting work. Bobby McFerrin – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ – for boring work 🙂

Babu: ‘Vetri kodi kattu’ (Raise the flag of success) from the Tamil Movie Padaiyappa.

3. What weird food combinations do you really enjoy?

Adhil: Eaten snails in shells in Portugal, frog legs in Singapore, alligator in Denver but never in combination.

Rati: Combo 1: Curd rice + Chilli Paneer |  Combo 2: Curd rice + Parruppu podi | Combo 3: Dosa + Curds.

Iype: Very simple with respect to food requirements. Don’t have any weird combinations. 

Sarita: I’ll eat anything, honest. From horse meat, to octopus to locusts and bee larvae, I’ve tried it all. So I really don’t know what would qualify as a “weird food combination”.

Keshav: Dahi and Bhujiya. 🙂

Gavaskar: Salt and pepper on apples (tastes weird but I really enjoy it).

Subramonia: Ghee dosa and lots of idly podi mixed with oil, with some curd to dip into.

Prashanthi: I love chapathi with coffee, potato fries with pickles

Babu: Rice with Vatha Kozhambu (Tamarind Gravy) & Curd mixed together with crushed Pappadam.

4. You find yourself stranded on a deserted island. You have just one phone call to one person in BB. Who would you call?

Adhil: BankBazaar travel desk which is resourceful enough to get me a ticket back to Mumbai.

Arjun: I’d call Rati and ask her to rescue me.

Rati: My boss – Arjun Shetty, the great!

Iype: Arjun Shetty. ‘Cause he can solve all problems.

Sarita: Sridevi (Senior Project Manager), of course! She is the only one I trust would move hell and high water right away to get me outta there ASAP (or send me a hammock, a book and a mojito to pass the time). She’s the absolute bedrock of the Product team and keeps us all on our toes.

Keshav: The COO!

Gavaskar: Arjun. At the moment, I can only trust him.

Subramonia: HR – assuming my presence is required in office and at the earliest, I would really look forward to their rescuing me from the island as well.

Prashanthi: I probably will call our IT support team to fix my Internet connection and VPN to send campaigns.

Babu: Vinoth Kannan (Sr.Manager – Admin, Ambattur)

5. A penguin walks into BB wearing a tutu. Why?

Adhil: It needs a Home Loan for an igloo.

Rati: Did you mean, visits bankbazaar.com & not walks into BB? (of course, tutu is intact!). The answer is: she was looking for a holiday Credit Card, obviously.

Iype: All financial product info is on our site in black & white. Who else would be our best cheerleader?!

Sarita: Because that’s our Drama Lama sporting his latest fashion faux pas.

Keshav: BB just started hiring for its office in Antarctica.  

Gavaskar: Maybe to celebrate our 10th anniversary. 

Subramonia: I am glad he could find his way in. He was meant to be a backup, just in case HR didn’t answer my call. The tutu has details of my whereabouts written on it. By the way, I am still stranded.

Prashanthi: Penguin bored in Antartica. Wanted to become a ballerina and start its own dance school. So, came to BB to apply for a business loan.

Babu: A flash mob for celebrating our success.

6. If Plan BB hadn’t worked out, what would your Plan B have been?

Adhil: I really liked my old job and old boss so I would have gone back to work in New York city.

Arjun: Plan B is for those who give up, so we never bothered thinking of one.

Rati: Plan BB has more than one Plan B in it! In all seriousness, there was no other way. We had a great team, great vision and great belief in what we could do, we only had to run and make it happen, make it work.

Iype: To be honest, Plan B never existed. All of us worked in BB with the idea that “failure was not an option”.

Sarita: Hmm. Professional dog snuggler or panda petter or understudy to a rodeo clown – the usual stuff of dreams.

Keshav: Something too far ahead to have been considered.

Gavaskar: I may have become a Tech Consultant or a started a web design company.

Subramonia: I would have continued working for a large corporate, figuring out Plan B. 

Prashanthi: Hard to answer. Plan BB was my primary plan and never had secondary plans. Also in the last 7 years, I have never regretted not having secondary plans.

Babu: Would have joined any FMCG.

7. Is there a hobby you wish you had more time for?

Adhil: Is traveling round the world for fun considered a hobby? 

Arjun: Skateboarding.

Rati: I try to continue doing the things I love, maybe less than before, but I still do.

Iype: If I had more time, I would just try to spend more of that with my wife and two little ones.

Sarita: My personal writing. Gardening. Abstract art. Civet poo hunting in Bali.

Keshav: Stock markets/reading

Gavaskar: Craftwork, volunteering, and social service.

Subramonia: Yes, writing. I enjoy writing stories/articles loaded with lots of humour. Only, the best phrases take time and a lot of self-deprecation to get formed. While I have been consistent with the latter, time is one aspect that has been consistently evading me.

Prashanthi: Painting and craftwork. I use to do a lot of paintings and home decor.

Babu: Trekking

8. Which book do you relate to the most?

Adhil: I found ‘Gandhi before India’ by Ramachandra Guha very inspiring.

Rati: Almost all the Murakami books.

Iype: ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ is a very, very simple book that I liked. It is very light reading and I believe that one can finish it in 30 mins – just tells us not to be too serious about life and events that happen which may or may not be in our control. 

Sarita: ‘Noddy and The Tootles’. In all seriousness, ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Keshav: Can’t think of any time I could relate to a book. But I felt inspired when I read ‘Fountainhead’.   

Gavaskar: Thenali Raman Stories (in Tamil). I like reading those books as they help me understand how to solve problems based on situations.

Subramonia: In continuation with the above answer, every one of P.G. Wodehouse’s works.

Babu: Spiritual books

9. If you could go back 10 years in time, what advice would you give yourself?

Adhil: Be patient. Rome was not built in a day, and neither would BankBazaar.  

Arjun: Enjoy everything.

Rati: If you are going to be asked this question in 10 years, you better have a worthy answer or have a time machine with you by then. I have neither!

Iype: Be more confident about yourself and be sure that you are out of your comfort zone. After I joined BankBazaar, we faced many situations/issues that we had never faced before. With a lot of guidance from Arjun and Adhil, I was able to pull off things I never imagined that I could do.

Sarita: Back in 2008, someone forwarded an email from Adhil Shetty looking for a content writer. I would advise myself to actually look at that email and respond. Had I responded (and assuming I’d have cracked their tests and interviews), I could have joined BankBazaar six years before I actually did.

Keshav: You will never achieve more than what you think you can.

Gavaskar: Don’t be afraid to take risks. Become accountable for what needs to be changed. 

Subramonia: 10 years hence, don’t look back in time and advise your decade-old self.

Prashanthi: Buy 1,000 bitcoins and MRF shares in 2009, sell all in Dec 2017, live happily ever after.

Babu: To increase my social network.

10. If you follow Game of Thrones, answer this. In a spin-off called Game of Loans, which character would you be?

Adhil: Never seen Game Of Thrones. 

Rati: I do not watch GoT (yes, I am part of that minority, savage, sub-section of the world population). But maybe I could be…Lo(a)n Snow? 

Iype: One of the Lannisters obviously. “A Lannister always pays his debts”.

Sarita: Tyrion Lannister, Master of Coin. He’s witty and self-deprecating, but wise once you peel off the layers. In the spin-off, I’d be called Trying Prankster, Mistress of Coinage, sans wit and wisdom of course. That’s a stretch, even for me.

Keshav: Harvey Spector, which is closest to Tyrion I believe. 

Subramonia: For some reason, I have never been able to get past Episode 1. While I apologise to fans, I am one of those rare beings that has not taken to this series yet. Also, for the record, fellow BB colleagues who have persuaded me (in vain) to keep at it have, in the last four years, joined other companies and are now back at BB for their second stint. I am still on Episode 1.

Wasn’t that fun? Wait! We aren’t done yet! Here’s a little surprise. Want to know how cute our CPO looked when she was a toddler? Curious? Presenting baby Rati!

Now, how cute was that?

We hope you are as glad to be part of this family as we are. Thanks for being with us and we would love to have you on board going forward too. We promise that this will be a super thrilling journey that you will thoroughly enjoy!