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On the enterprise side, we were lucky to get some outstanding people like Siva Vajjhala, Babuji Abraham and R. K. Veeraraghavan from Cambridge Technology Partners, Verifone and Wipro respectively.

We were all set. In Somerset, New Jersey, Scott, Anjan and Kamran opened the bank account, won the first customer engagement, and settled a small office space at the same time as we did in Bangalore. We did not have a customer engagement in India yet. That was to come later.

In Bangalore, knowing that it would take us a while to create space and fix it up, we readily took up an offer from V. G. Siddhartha of Sivan Securities (later renamed Global Technology Ventures) to use a non-descript office space he had bought with an idea of eventually furnishing it and using it himself. The office had all of fourteen tables but it was a Godsend. The place also came with an existing phone line and we had a mailing address! Although the entire place was just as big as Ashok’s presidential corner office at Wipro, it felt good. What brought special warmth was the joining of Latha as our receptionist.

Latha was one of the ten children at the Spastic Society of Karnataka who had painted for us along with Chetan. She was born with a form of palsy that took away the use of her legs. Latha’s truck-driving father had given her away to a convent. There, the nuns raised her and sent her to school at the Spastic Society of Karnataka. Latha had a great smile and we said to ourselves, "Why not take her on board as our receptionist." She joined us on day one. Today, Latha runs our front office in Bangalore. She is an economically independent member of the society and stands on her own right.

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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