On 3rd May, 2019, an extremely severe cyclonic storm – FANI hit the East Coast of India and ravaged Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, where we have one of our Production offices, and Puri – another coastal city. This was one of the strongest and the most severe cyclone Odisha has ever seen since 2013 and falls under the “high-end major hurricane” category. It is the 10th such cyclone to hit India in past 52 years. The damage has caused a total breakdown of electricity grid and communication network throughout the capital and nearby areas and the life stood still under its spell.
The story you are about to read is about a group of fearless young men and women who decided to stand united and delivered what they committed – with whatever means necessary. This real story is about Braahmam’s bravest team and its determined endeavors against all the hostilities of Fani.
“It’s outside! It’s here! Only god can save this city now!” – Subhransu Mohapatra [Training Department, Braahmam]
On 4th May, 2019, the production center of Braahmam in Bhubaneswar was rendered inoperable by the catastrophic damages delivered by FANI. Also, with no network and electricity, all the operations came to a halt. With telecom towers uprooted and reduced to debris, everyone was stranded with limited stocks of food, scarce water, no electricity and communications network – feeling like a stone age.
The state government, which had already evacuated more than 1.2 million people before the disaster, launched prompt rescue missions to mitigate the post-Fani damages. However, electricity and communication still needed at least 1 week to become somewhat functional.
In the middle of all this, the stationed team of Braahmam did NOT decide to wait and watch and came out with an operational plan. With bare minimum communication, the BBSR team had an emergency meeting with their CEO, Biraj Rath to carry out the plans for a quick comeback. Alas, all their plans were futile without a communication network with the outside world.
Thus, it was decided that the only way to make a comeback is by physically moving to a different place where electricity and network facility can be availed. So, a large part of the operations team made a trip to Keonjhar – a small place 200kms away from the battered city of Bhubaneswar. Upon reaching the spot, the next phase of plan was executed.
A virtual war room was created which was mainly led by our heroic teams of CSMs – Gaurav, Deepak and Tushank and our Account Management team lead by Tanushree. Connected with the CEO and Noida team through very weak and low-strength signals, a meeting was held, and a situational recce was done.
From continuous support of IT team stationed at Noida and Bhubaneswar, the plan to deliver the clients’ projects was rolled out. Slowly but surely, the projects fell in line and their deliveries started. All this was constantly monitored by the key members of the virtual war room. Despite of being outside the comfort zone, the team progressed step by step. The production team at Philippines doubled their efforts to provide extra cover to the clients. It was totally a team work at the micro and macro levels.
Setting aside their own safety, their family’s safety, the Braahmam team dared to deny all adversities and marched forward with one goal in mind – “Honor the commitment!”
The relocated team spent exactly 10 days before returning back to the original location and resumed work the very next day on 15th May on partial restoration of communication and electrical networks.
This is an ideal and heroic example of how a company should respond, coordinate and work in times of distress and difficulties, as a true test of a team is when everyone is outside their comfort zones. It also demonstrates the will of our staff to clearly respond beyond the normal call of duty and resonates with the spirit of team Braahmam.
At team Braahmam, as a CSR activity, the company has decided to donate to the chief minister’s fund for relief measures with generous contributions from our employees as well.
Today, we are proud to pat the back of our committed staff when we are back to our normal operations nearly 2 weeks after the stone Age feeling.
Hall of Fame
War room [Front to Back]1. Tushank – CSM2. Pabitra – QA3. Amit Sahu – Project Coordinator
War Room [Left to Right]1. Vicky Mandal – Project Coordinator2. Subham Pal – Project Coordinator3. Rudranarayan – Project Coordinator4. Deepak Sahu – CSM5. Nitish – QA6. Biswaranjan – QA7. Bijaya – QA
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