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Prince Manuel and Jaya Prakash were in the second tower when the first plane hit. Some people were running down while others were taking the elevator. Jaya Prakash started running down the stairs. Prince took the elevator. Just as both were leaving, another plane hit the second tower, one more hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania.

We knew that the events of September 11th had changed the world forever. But to begin with, we had to locate Prince Manuel and Jaya Prakash. After twelve hours of searching, we were relieved to determine that the two had escaped as the Towers collapsed. But the customer whom they were working with, Rod Wotton of Franklin Templeton Fiduciary Trust, died in the terrorist attack leaving behind his wife Pat and little daughter Dorothea.

Only days after the tragedy, Pat went into labor and on October 4, a baby boy named Rod was delivered. MindTree Minds all over the world donated one day’s wages and after tracing her in Middletown, New Jersey, I handed over the check to Pat Wotton.
Though sympathy was pouring in from everywhere, the MindTree check had been the first real financial help that reached Pat. Driving back that night on the New Jersey Turnpike, I knew what lay ahead of all of us.

All new business came to a halt. The world had not prepared for anything like this since World War II. Worse still, most people in the current generation were not trained to handle anything of this magnitude. For us, the writing on the wall was clear: ahead of us was a long winter and we had to conserve energy.

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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