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At such an early stage, we could all do without speculation. Traveling by air would almost certainly give away the story. Train was going to have some exposure no doubt, but more importantly would mean a lot of time wasted. Then came the idea of driving down by car.
Vizag isn't really close to Bangalore. We calculated that the distance was somewhere in the range of 1200 kilometers. The idea gripped us and we were like a bunch of juveniles who had to do it. Our wives were justifiably concerned about the impending insanity. After some persuasion, they realized we were possessed. They let go.

It was agreed that Anjan will fly down from the US to Vizag and KK and I would take our two cars and four other friends to reach the Park Hotel on the 24^th of December after staying overnight at Tirupati. Out of the four friends, one had mediated in discussion with the first Venture Capitalist. The second was the applications technology person to whom I had spoken to and who had agreed to join. The third was another professional friend and a potential founder and the fourth was the potential Head Nerd who had come up with the thirty questions.

On the eve of leaving for Vizag, the applications technology person called in and said he was not ready for something like this. I felt sad. But we decided to move on anyway. The other three came on the appointed day and time when KK and I pulled out our cars and turned towards the Old Madras Road. On to Tirupati for a night's sleep and then, early next morning, the long drive to Vizag on the national highway connecting Calcutta on one end and Chennai on the other. The Technical Leader who had asked me time to think through after the four hour grilling and had then decided to hitch his fortune happened to be N. S. Parthasarathy, at that time, General Manager at Wipro's Technology Solutions.

Namakal Parthasarathy was born to a traveling ticket collector in the railways and grew up in small town railway colonies. After a brilliant stint in high school, Partha went to the famed Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, and then did his Masters at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

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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