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On the fateful day of September 10, 2001, the newly constituted board of MindTree Consulting met in Bangalore and looked at the new business plan. Everyone acknowledged that the world was beset with the possibilities of a slowdown but we did not think it would hurt our prospects beyond a point.
The positioning of MindTree was real, our customer successes were beginning to convert themselves into references and plans for geographic expansion promised to open new frontiers beyond the United States, which was on the cusp of a slowdown.

In the second round, we had raised close to $15 million. This was coupled with strong cash flows from operations - we anticipated that the money would be good for at least 2 years. The Board accepted our position and plans.

I had flown in to Bangalore for the Board Meeting and had decided to stay back for a few days.

Exactly twenty-four hours later, on September 11, I was busy with a group of young Business Analysts when Babuji Abraham walked in and said that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I went to see the CNN site - the event was still unfolding and I did not have enough data to fathom the situation.

Shortly after, we all went out to have dinner at a nearby apartment where the Business Analysts were staying. I walked in there and asked them to switch on CNN, only to see, in real time, the second plane hitting the WTC building. In that moment, I realized that this was much more serious and larger in significance. The horror was quickly overtaken by panic as I remembered we had two MindTree Minds in the World Trade Center who were working on a project from Franklin Templeton. I rushed back to the office, called for an emergency meeting, and had a video link activated with the New Jersey.

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Subroto Bagchi is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for MindTree Consulting (P) Ltd. The "Making of the MindTree" is told in the first person by Subroto Bagchi. In condensed form, it was published by Business World, filmed by InfiniTV, and aired on CNBC, IT Hour. Websites: www.mindtree.com & www.mindtree.com/subrotobagchi