Operation Camouflage

by Amit Sidham

  The whole stadium and people across all locations burst out laughing and simultaneously the employee benefit was received with a round of applause.

  AADITYA: Next is Profile. Designation or Position is one thing. One could have a fancy designation but an employee might still not be satisfied with the kind of work he is expected to do, if the job profile is not commensurate with the designation. So it is important that the employee gets sufficient challenges on the job and the joy of having completed those challenges would ensure job satisfaction. If a new person asks you what exactly do you do? And you feel proud describing your job to the other person, it indicates that you are satisfied with your profile. If the pride is missing, something is lacking. Something needs to be done. If anyone finds themselves in this situation, take it up with your HR. It will be good if you can also come up with a recommendation as to how your profile could be made interesting.

  Package, simplest to understand but most challenging to address due to its dynamic nature. Expectations vary from time to time and expectations also vary in comparison to external factors like packages offered by competing companies and other industries. What we have decided is, instead of benchmarking with other companies, we should become the benchmark. This simply means our packages have to be the best, which in turn translates to our profitability being the best, which comes when our output or revenue or profit per person is the best. This will surely happen once the drastic changes mentioned in Aakash’s mail earlier get implemented. This will phenomenally increase the efficiency of each person and hence the organization. And because we are so confident about it, we are not waiting for it to happen before revising the packages. You may ignore the interim increment letters received. The benchmark package revision happens right now from this moment. We are standardizing the packages across all our companies and by the time this session is over, the revised package will be in your inbox.

  I firmly believe that corporate life should not be like an examination, where you compete with your own colleagues. Corporates today encourage internal competition further by providing a limited number of carrots with the expectation that all of them will run for it and while ultimately the best one will get the carrot, organization will benefit from the running of all. The best one does get the carrot, the return on investment if looked in isolation is significantly high. But the damage that it causes to the rest of the team and hence the organization due to drop in motivation levels, drop in job satisfaction, lack of camaraderie goes completely unnoticed.

  To me corporate life should be like a football match where the employees work together to score a goal, they compete with the rivals and not with each other. And this has been my proven success mantra. Once you give the team a purpose, a vision, a goal that goes beyond the growth of the organization and equally important that the team buys into it, each member of the team leaves aside his personal aspirations and works towards fulfilling the larger purpose for which they came together. This is how the core team has taken the organization to the heights where it is today.

  The entire stadium got up on their feet and accorded a standing ovation to Aaditya. The clapping went on for more than two minutes without any sign of slowing down and finally Sanjana had to request them to stop, so that the session could continue further.

  SANJANA: I know you all are very excited, but I would request you all to please control your emotions so that we could proceed further. Thank You. Sir, I have one very important question at this stage and I am sure many other would be having the same, if you permit, may I ask the same.

  AADITYA: Ok, go ahead.

  SANJANA: Sir, the benefits extended today, if they would have been announced earlier, I am sure many of the employees who chose to leave us would have not left? They would have continued with us. We had no obligation of reducing the numbers. We in fact spent time in filling the positions through internal movements and are now looking at filling the balance through external sources.

  AADITYA: That is because we do not want people to stay for the reward. It’s the other way round. We are rewarding people for staying with us. You all had the option to move out but you all believed in our purpose and choose to stay with us. You are people whom we now know will stand by us come what may. The ones who left could either not relate to our purpose or were not comfortable working in this environment and hence were not the best fit. Identifying all such people in a small time, in a single stroke was only possible in this way. So we identified them, gave them what they wanted and let them go. Regards the new recruits that might come in purely because of the rewards, they will be assessed thouroughly and we have mechanisms to identify the ones coming for the purpose from the ones coming for the rewards.

  The stadium once again got on their feet. And this time it was not to thank Aaditya and Aakash, but completely out of respect for their sheer brilliance, their geniusness, their goodwill. They had not only identified thousands of misfits in a single stroke, but also treated them with utmost care and ensured continuity of their careers at similar or higher level. Sanjana was now able to relate to Aakash’s two month prior decision of letting go of more than eighteen thousand employees without any hesitation. Once the crowd settled down, Aaditya continued again.

  AADITYA: The last P is Posting. For someone it could be your hometown, for someone it could be a metropolitan for someone it could be an overseas location. If you have a dissatisfaction related to your posting, discuss with your HR. While it depends on suitable position being available at the desired location, the HR will do their best to address the situation.

  I look forward to meeting you people frequently, not just in offices but also in the various conservation programs that we run and of course the various organization wide celebrations. Thank you once again.

  Aaditya’s address was followed by a huge round of applause.

  SANJANA: Thank you very much Sir. I do not have to emphasize on how pleased we are for this wonderful address. The enthusiasm of the crowd is living proof of the same. But, instead I would like to share one of my experiences with everyone. We have all been listening about the new policies new approaches that would be revealed from today onwards. Two days ago I had the privilege of experiencing one such approach. Aakash Sir gave me the increment figures and asked me to prepare the revised compensation letters. The figures were in the range of 19 to 35%, high for an interim revision by any standards. Like a typical HR I went back to him and said, Sir we can manage even with half of this and reduce our salary budget.

  You would be surprised the way I was, to know the answer that I got. The answer that I got was – Primary role of HR is employee satisfaction and not cost reduction. And always remember HR is a bridge between the employees and management with the responsibility to represent employees to the management and not the other way round. Isn’t it very simple? Shouldn’t it be that way but unfortunately the dimension of HR in today’s corporate world have completely changed. That was my first unlearning experience. And I am happy to unlearn all such flawed principles. I feel it my privilege and am extremely proud to be working with such phenomenal people.

  This too received a standing ovation.

  SANJANA: Thank you very much dear colleagues. Your enthusiasm shows you too are willing to unlearn. Can I on behalf of all of you assure the leadership that we all are willing to unlearn, open to adopt the new policies and approaches?

  The crowd roared together in one voice ‘Yesss.’

  AADITYA: Thank you very much. Keep up this same spirit and enthusiasm. We have a lot more to accomplish.

  There was no need for any further clarifications. All questions had been answered by Aakash in the previous townhall. Expectations from employees had been set in the mail and previous session. Today’s session for them was only about receiving. Aadi’s address had not just delighted them but given them a sense of pride. Without emphasizing on the purpose, it had instilled in them its importance and united them with the organization’s purpose. No one had to enforce the thoug
ht on themselves. It now came naturally to them. Everyone walked into the office with their heads high. Nobody had to wait for an external agency to come and tell them that they were working at one of the great places to work. They already knew, that they were working at the ‘Best place to work.’

  On their way back when Aaditya and Aakash were by themselves, ‘Good job, Aakash. By letting go of eighteen per cent employees you have strengthened the bond of balance eighty-two per cent with us.’

  It’s a natural human tendency. They tend to value something only when they lose it, or they see someone close losing it.

  ‘Thanks Chief. But I hope the need to utilize this association doesn’t arise soon’ said Aakash.

  ‘I also hope so,’ said Aaditya.

  There were many power centres around the world that had to be taken into confidence…to avoid any of them turning hostile. Last three months the core team had been running around accomplishing the task that had arisen due to the untimely revelation. The completion timing of that task coincided with the Day 1 of the new company. Gathering support of thousands of employees was an icing on the cake. That night for the first time, after the attack, Aaditya and his team had a sound sleep.

  Chapter 15

  THE 36 HOUR SURGERY

  9th February’ 2016

  Within six months, the group operations had stabilized. The new policies and approaches had been implemented and businesses were now in a position to run with minimal involvement from the core group. Back at the headquarters also, things had returned to BAU, business as usual. With the secret out, the headquarter security required increased vigilance and strengthening. Area within a radius of five kms from the mountain, had been converted to a restricted zone. Entry to the complex was only from the top of the mountain, which meant only via the air mode and the airspace above was a no fly zone for all other flying objects, barring the ones owned by GALAXY Corporation.

  One of the floors in the complex housed the set up for monitoring forests. It was a single large room on the entire floor. The perimeter wall of the circular room was fitted with large screens twelve feet wide and eight feet high, over sixty in number. At the centre of the room was an elevated circular platform about thirty feet in diameter where the monitoring team sat. The platform could rotate around the centre. While the set up looked huge, at any given point of time not more than three people would manage the vigilance centre.

  With the limited number of resources having more people on the job was a luxury. But the state of the art systems compensated for it. Satellites would monitor the forests and capture any abnormalities with their advanced sensing features that captured not just images but sounds, temperature and smell. This data would be fed into the computers and the algorithms would identify and alert the team about call to action. So whether it be the firing of a bullet or a forest fire; a sick animal lying at one place for more than its natural time or significant changes in urine or faecal matter of an animal, flooding or droughts, sudden increase in human footprint in an area or the emissions from a vehicle in a restricted zone– nothing was hidden from the advanced sensors of this artificial intelligence powered vigilance system. Like any other AI system, this system was also developing day by day with incremental data.

  Any alert would be analysed by the vigilance team by zooming in on the particular case and required action would be taken. Most of the actions so far involved alerting the animal rescue team. This vigilance system and the animal rescue team were also headed by Avanish in addition to the security and defence system. The set up here was exactly similar to the security and defence system. In fact, with people constraints, it would have made sense to have a combined set up. But Avanish was clear in his mind right from beginning about having the two as exactly similar yet completely separate for obvious reasons.

  After operation reveal he had even emphasized to Aadi and Samir about bifurcating his responsibilities and handing over forest vigilance and animal rescue completely to Sunil, one of his team mates. With a lot of action happening outside, Sunil was required for other tasks during those three months. Now that things were stable, Sunil was back at the headquarters full time and formally the baton had been passed on to him.

  Sunil and his team were suddenly alarmed by an alert flagged off by the system. On deep dive they found that a wild tusker was being trapped at Bandipur range. After controlling poaching incidents in West, the vigilance had now been extended to Rest of India. The animal rescue team was immediately alerted, and they reached the spot with a hypersonic air ambulance capable of carrying an elephant, in twelve minutes.

  The team saw that the tusker’s right front leg was caught in a metal trap with sharp claws. In the haste to free himself, the tusker had been pulling out his leg resulting in the trap’s claws piercing through his skin and flesh. About bottom twelve inches of the leg was literally hanging. The hunters had tried to tranquilize the animal but not succeeding had picked up the gun. There were three bullet wounds in the elephant’s chest and abdomen area. There was a spear wound on the left side abdomen and the intestines were hanging out. The animal was profusely bleeding. But the elephant had not given up and was still struggling to set himself free. The hunters with the help of chains and rope loops had caught his trunk and two limbs. The other ends were tied to the tree.

  Any other person would have literally vomited on seeing the sight in front of their eyes. But images of animal brutality were not new to the team. Without getting disturbed by what they saw, they quickly sprang into action. Of the team of eight hunters four, including the two with the guns were killed even before the ambulance landed. The balance four tried to run for cover. Three ran in the opposite direction and one tried to hide behind one of the tied legs of the elephant. Next round of fire and the other three fell to the ground. One of the rescue team members caught hold of the hunter hiding behind the leg and with a single stroke made him unconscious.

  The team immediately began to free the elephant. They gave him first aid to stop the bleeding. Very carefully tied his broken leg, covered his intestines and with the help of robots lifted him into the ambulance. The team then quickly picked up the seven bodies and the unconscious person and threw them into the chopper. Within four minutes of landing, the chopper was again in the air headed towards the headquarter.

  Back at the headquarter, the team of vets was getting ready for the surgery. The chopper landed and the elephant was immediately taken to the operation theatre. The elephant was anaesthetized and a quick body scan was run to ascertain the damage. The reports showed drop in pulse rate, ruptured heart, punctured lungs, ruptured liver, intestines with cuts at several places and a fractured limb. In short, simultaneous multiple organ injuries and less than an hour of life remaining without treatment. Situation was extremely critical. The team of vets present was extremely adept but only skill was not sufficient to save the animal. The situation demanded a miracle and there were only two persons who could perform such miracles. Swamiji and Aadi. There was no time to bring Swamiji now, so the only hope was Aadi. Luckily, he was at the headquarter itself and on receiving the message immediately took the chute to the OT.

  He was quickly apprised about the treatment given so far. Two of the bullets had been removed, of which one had penetrated the heart, escaped from the other side and lay behind it. The other one had remained in the liver all this time while infecting it severely. The third bullet was stuck deep inside in the dorsal vertebrae, which was being removed but taking time. Blood vessels from where blood had been oozing out had been temporarily sealed. Aadi looked at the scan and asked the vets to stop removing the third bullet as it was not that critical as compared to other priority treatments. The heart, lungs, liver, intestine and limb all required immediate attention. And the dilemma was, organs being of the same system heart and lungs, liver and intestine could not be treated simultaneously and if treated one after the other, the organ to be treated second, were not in a condition to sustain till the completion of treatment for
the first one.

  The limb which the vets had thought of deprioritising, if not fixed immediately had a risk of permanent damage, as the cells had started dying. This would mean amputating the limb permanently and an elephant without a limb would neither be able to balance and neither move, resulting in a slow death in the jungle.

  Aadi closed his eyes, took a deep breath and after thinking for a moment came up with a plan. He said, ‘Let’s start with the heart and limb simultaneously. Seal the lungs, liver and intestine wounds temporarily and once we are done with the heart we reopen the liver for treatment, followed by treatment of lungs and finally the intestines.’

  The team got to work quickly. Using special bandages made up from cellulose, the team quickly covered the wounds on lungs, liver and intestine. Because of its elastic and insoluble nature, the bandage could stretch with the expansion and contraction of the organs and also prevent oozing out of fluids from the wounded organs, temporarily.

  The animal had lost a lot of blood by now. And like humans, it was not possible to maintain a blood bank for animals, simply because of the large number of species, the different blood groups in each and limited life under storage. But blood was a basic necessity. Most of the cases involved a lot of blood loss and needed immediate transfusion. Aadi and his team here had come up with an innovative solution to tackle this problem. What blood is to animals, chlorophyll is to plants. One of the main differences is the presence of a different metal atom in the middle of each of the molecules. In case of plant chlorophyll it is magnesium, giving it a green colour and in mammals it is iron giving it a red colour. The team replaced the magnesium atom in chlorophyll and replaced it with the iron atom. This would now perform the basic function of blood of trapping and transporting oxygen.