and so ends my journey with Ricoh...

31st March 2020 - COVID19 is raging through the world and whole of India is under lock-down. Yet, this day marks as my last with Ricoh Innovations Pvt Ltd (RIPL) after seven and half years.

First time, i have stayed in a company for so long. First time, i am feeling so emotional while signing-off. First time, i am writing a blog to mark the occasion. So many firsts. Don't know, where to start and where to end.

To begin,

My heartfelt thanks to Jyotsna for choosing, guiding, supporting and mentoring me. In my 15 years career, i have worked under multiple managers and Jyotsna happens to be one of the BEST, that i have worked under.

Thanks to Sridhar for guiding the company in a efficient way for these 7+ years. The kind of culture he encouraged in the company was fantastic and deserves a bow.

Thanks to Sanjay & Ramdas for making sure that all of our financials were handled in the most efficient way possible. Never a missed penny! :)

Muthu, Pramod & Pradeep deserve our applauds for always handling all our queries with a smile. Their support kept us going for all these years. Thank you.

Thanks to Srinivas and his team (Gowda, Francis, Shankar etc.) for making sure that all the facilities were top-notch. From feeding us daily, to making sure that all our needs are met. All of you deserve our applaud.

I remember my interviews at RIPL, first one with Jyotsna and the second with Vipin. I had lunch with Vipin on the day of my interview. The turning point for me to accept the offer was Vipin showing me a Lytro camera. I was floored to know that RIPL was working with Lytro technologies. I remember being offered by Anu, and initially rejecting it for more money from another company. I came back because of RICOH brand, commute, and Vipin's Lytro camera. I made the right choice!

Moving on,

I would like to thank my team of past 2 years, Narasimha, Nagesh, Paawan and Thippesh. These guys brought back my passion to work on the latest technologies. The kind of conversations that happened between us, made me push myself to try new things and venture into the world of Machine Learning & Computer Vision. Guys, you ROCK! In Paawan's words, LET'S PARTY!!!

Coming to the Retail Intelligence and Ocutag team,

So many people to thank, who have inspired me and taught me something new on a daily basis.

Research team - Kaushik & Anshul, the two guys who made recognition of shelf images possible. We had an amazing relationship, with discussions and friendly banter all the time. Krishna - The one and only of his kind. Thanks to him, my love for jack fruits and mango became stronger. Harshitha - Always smiling and helping out. Rajeev - The maestro of STORM :) Miss u all.

Business Guys - Shobhit, Barun & Shekar. I had a ball with these three guys. So supportive and always ready to help out. I really miss the amazing food that Shobhit used to bring for lunch, Barun's badminton stories and Shekar badgering me for patents. I also fondly remember, Adit, Tarak, Ankit and all those other guys, who made the workplace so fun!

Development Team - So many people here. I am sure, i will miss out some of the names here. Rohith & Pradeep - I have shared an amazing relationship with Rohith and it continues. Me and Pradeep used to disagree a lot, but that is the best way to enhance a friendship. Chirag, Ram, Akshay, Uttparna, Ganesh, Karthik, Sanjay, Indu, Ankit, Sai - Great people with great talent. Always ready to support with any issue. Manoj, Gyan & Vinay - Talented guys with unusual humor. These guys made working fun! There are some more amazing people from the past, Ramesh, Ankur, Arjun - These guys built the initial Ocutag and OcutagSnap and we together had a lot of fun! I still remember Arjun's favourite quote - Please Check Now :D

UI/UX team - Raghavendra, the mastermind of all those beautiful designs along with Jamey, Pavan, Nitin & Dinesh. Some really inspirational stuff!

Documentation - Asif, the first time i saw this guy, i was not sure what a body builder was doing in the team. But, over a period of time, we built a strong friendship that will go on for a long time. Arathi - We all had a strange love and hate relationship with Arathi. But, she commands my respect. She single handedly made sure that RIPL followed some sort of process.

DevOps - Surajit has been wonderful to work with and i respect him a lot for his professionalism.

and lastly,

My Testing Team - Hanumanth was in the team before i joined. He had laid the groundwork on which i built. Thanks for sticking with me through all those times. Pavithra - My first hire at RIPL and a good tester. Always smiling and making work look easy. Mukta - My friend from Motorola, rolled into the team, did some great stuff with OcutagSnap and rolled out. Sushma - A good tester and a good friend, who made sure that everybody had fun while working. Sudharsan - I was initially a bit skeptical about this guy. But, boy oh boy, he proved me wrong with a really keen eye for his work and became a good friend. Pawan - An amazing person with lot of intellect. Roopa - Another person who rose up to the occasion and delivered when it was required. Vikas, Sunil & Ashwini - This trio added an entirely different perspective to the team with their gutsy display of hard work and determination. So many other people, who made the testing team special! I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. You made me a better person with all your questions, suggestions & actions.

and, before i end,

Thanks to Vipin, Mahesh, KP, Narasimha Bhat, Srinidhi, Syed, Sameera and many others - For making RIPL such a innovative and intellectual place to be in.

All the members of IOT- SIS and IOT - FA and ATG teams - Thanks for willingly providing us data, for our face detection work. Muchos Gracias!

RIC - Hector, Max & Jamey: The three people with whom i worked a lot. Amazing people with such talent and leadership! Vish - A down to earth person, who is always ready to help. Manoj & Kevin - The backbones of RIC and wonderful people to interact. Bruce, Manuel, Kevin & Ed - Geniuses in their own respect. Salutes to all of you!

I did some great things, some silly mistakes and had lot of fun. Forgive me, if i have hurt you in anyway, it was foolishness on my part. I hope to take those learning's and become a better person.

We had some fun times and some testing times. But, the best thing is, we stuck together. We fought it out! To me, it was the experience that mattered and i had such wonderful experiences with all you people. Thanks a lot! Stay Safe!

P.S: If i have missed any names above (i am sure i have), please forgive! its been so difficult to recall all the names.