Bio Expressions July 2014

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. –John UpdikeMonsoon…..

..it has inspired poets, novelists and bollywood songs

..it is what farmers look forward to for a bumper harvest

..it has spurred fashion in jazzy umbrellas and colourful raincoats

..it ushers in unrelenting traffic, mucky roads, soiled footwear, and con-finement indoors

We celebrate this multifaceted season in Bioexpression issue 13 with poetry, articles, pictures, and a mouth-watering recipe. We have also lined up a travelogue, an interesting interview, titbits on the new joinees, and a funny photo puzzle to pep up your monsoon.

We sincerely hope you will have a good time reading it all. Do let us know if you do…and tell us our mistakes too..

To keep your copy of BioExpression from getting damp, we have couched this monsoon issue in a new ebook format. We have also timed this issue in keeping with the delayed monsoon!!

Happy Monsoon BQites..Enjoy the Rain..

- by Sithara Girish,Bangalore

RAIN RAIN GO AWAYCOME AGAIN ANOTHER DAYLITTLE JOHNNY WANTS TO PLAY

I used to sing this song as a child and now

my naughty two-year-old son Vishant sings it.

However, contrary to the song, both of us love

playing in the rain. We walk in the rain, have umbrella

fights and long for a chance to splash in the puddles by

the roadside. My son also enjoys catching the raindrops

in his little fingers and spinning his umbrella like a top.

Children get this impression from adults that rainy days

are drab and “yucky”. However, thanks to my son, I have

learnt to have fun in the rain and enjoy a sense of

oneness with the natural elements.

Consultants

Harika S

Konduru

Srinivas

Content CoordinatorsTeam

BioExpression

Editor

Special Thanks

to our mentor

International

Correspondent

Design &

Creatives

Maitreyi DesaiAlice V Badzli Bakar

Thanks to

BioQuest

for funding

this issue,

and to all

authors/

creative minds

Dr. Rajesh

Prabhakaran

Ravi S

Puspashree

Mohanty

Sunil EBItismita

Rout

ISSUE 13 | JULY 2014

A Glimpse of India

Magical monsoon

memories

The end of an

amazing journey.

cows! Seeing cows roaming freely on the Indian streets fascinated me. I grew up seeing cows only on farms and it was simply adorable to see them roaming, slowing down cars on busy streets and hearing them moo. I also appreciated the fact that modernization in India had not diminished the reverence Indians have for these lovely animals.

The time spent at the BioQuest office was a pleasant one. The hospitality and delight reflected on Umesh’s face each time he served us coffee was a treat! The butter chicken and chicken biryani

ahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Taj Mahal, Yoga and Hinduism crossed my mind each time I heard of India. However, my trips to Little India in Singapore and the documentaries on India that I watched on the Discovery

and National Geographic channels made me wonder if there was more to this country than what I thought. A trip to Incredible India seemed the only way i could quench my curiosity.

Dr. Amruta Rao Manager Business Development, BioQuest, Mumbai.

So, it was a dream come true when after joining BioQuest I learnt that I’d be flying to Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, for my training. I was extremely happy because besides learning more about my new role, I would also be exploring a new territory and culture and meeting new people.

Since I loved delving into new things, the whole idea of coming to India thrilled me.

My trip to India did not disappoint me one bit. The twelve days that I spent in Bangalore were simply amazing!!!

On my first day in Bangalore, as i was traveling to the BioQuest office, I found that the streets were already busy, though it was early morning. Too bad, I didn’t get a chance to pose with the

- by Mariae,Philippines

- compiled by Alice,Bangalore

offered to me during lunch were simply amazing. I also feasted on a dish called Singapore chicken (Malaysian style according to Dr. Gautam) and had a good laugh while doing so because I had never found a dish with this name either in Singapore or Malaysia. It seemed to me this Southeast Asian dish is exclusive only to Bangalore!

Besides the food, I had fun wearing the gorgeous Indian sari. I was also delighted to have found a good colleague and an amazing friend in Shruti. There’s no dull moment with her around! To sum it all up, my trip to Bangalore helped me have a small glimpse of India and left me wanting for more of this Incredible country!

Thoda professional…

Name of the previous organization you worked in?

Medeka Health Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.

You held a degree in physiotherapy, yet chalked out your career in the business management domain. What fuelled the transition from physiotherapy to business management?

I had an inclination towards the management field ever since I started working. The dynamics of the field always attracted me. Business management is a domain that allows one to learn, explore and grow both professionally and personally.

However, I have not made a complete transition from physiotherapy to the management career. Physiotherapy is and always will be a part of me. I still treat patients when I have time during the weekends and will continue to do so as long as possible.

What moved you to join BioQuest?

No specific reasons as such. I had heard of BioQuest, since it was a competitor of the organization I had previously worked in. However, today I know that BioQuest is a great place to be in. I am sure I will learn a lot from my colleagues and the organization. Looking forward to a successful and long career stint in BioQuest.

Your dream organization?

Well…no names…but any organization that gives me an opportunity to settle down abroad for a few years would be a dream come true.

Your ambition?

I aspire to be a successful professional and a good team player, always reflecting my core values of sincerity, hard work and integrity.

Thoda

personal…

Native place: Mangalore

Favourite Indian city: Mumbai

Hobbies: Reading, surfing the net

Role model: My mother

A phrase/word you keep repeating: ”Arre yaar”

A dish you love to cook: None….Food tastes better when someone else cooks it for you!

Fetish: Watches

Secret wish/desire: To be back to 50 kgs

What do you love about the monsoon season: Water logging as I get a reason to stay indoors.

Manoj’s son Aarush, born 0n 27 August, 2013

0n 15 June , 2014

Aati kya Khandala?

Mukesh, Bangalore

0n 20 June , 2014


2

he quarterly BIOQUEST SALES MEET was organized on 10, 11, 12 April, 2014

at Hotel Monarch Luxur, Bangalore. The meet was attended by employees

from the Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and South East Asia

BioQuest offices. The focus of the sales meet was to review the performance

of the business development/marketing domains and promote better

coordination among BioQuest employees. One particular highlight of the

sales meet was the release of a new issue of BioExpression. The editorial board members of

Bioexpression engaged the attendees in a fun game involving vehicle registration numbers to

mark the occasion. The game generated a lot of mirth and laughter among the BQites.

Dr. Gagandeep Kaur won the game hands down and was rewarded with a smart mug bearing

the BQ logo.

On target!Dinesh awarding Sukhdeepfor highest sales target achieved

Where’s my pic?!Padmavathi and Vandana

Where do I look? Kiran, Niranjan, Ravi Shankar

Let’s dig in! Anas, Azhar

When are you serving the food? Ashok, Mahesh, Badzli, Manish, Dinesh, Pundareeka, Rinkesh, Manmeet, Srinivas, Timothy, Tarun

United we stand (every quarter)! Mariae, Gautam, Ashish, Rajesh, Mark.

Admiringmy ownwork!Ajith

Inseparable!

Jayalakshmi, Ganga, Renuka

Brothers in arms!Manoj and Vinay

The winners! Raja, Shruti, Preeti, Timothy, Abhijit, Hanumanth

Speechless! Shruti, Mariae, Srinivas, Ravi

Whatsup buddies?Rajesh addressing the gathering

Good joke!

Mridula, Shilpi, Aparna, Sheela, Rajshri,

Brinda, Gagandeep, Veena

Any hot news at BQ?Rajshri Brinda,

Rikumoni, Preeti

What’s the scene out there?Gautam, Srinivas, Vinay, Shiva, Kannan, Azhar,

Ashok, Satheesh, Kiran, Niranjan.

Mahesh and Pundareeka

The new Team Bioexpression!Sunil, Srinivas, Shruti, Puspashree, Harika, Alice, Itismita, Rajesh, Ravi, Ajith

Copycats!Atman, Pranab, Puspashree

What’s your car number?Abhijit, Manmeet, Rinkesh, Ashish

The winner takes the cup!Gagandeep

You solve the puzzle, I’ll play games!Shilpi, Aparna and Remya

Can you help me with the puzzle? Badzli, Rajesh.

There’s a mistake! Kannan

3

The four of us, Priyanka, Kannan, Archana and myself, got acquainted on Twitter and randomly planned a trip to the mountains and valleys of Sikkim. We began planning in December 2013 and by April 2014 we were ready to embark on our journey. On April 12, we journeyed from Bangalore to Kolkata. After reaching Kolkata, we explored Kali Ghat, Victoria Memorial Hall, MG Road and Park Street. We moved from Kolkata to Gangtok and subsequently to North Sikkim. We visited several places in Sikkim, including Tashi view

Dr. Amita and her family enjoyed a long holiday, sight-seeing and visiting friends in the United States and Canada. Here’s a glimpse!

n the month of July 2008, the six of us friends, five of my school-mates and myself, decided to embark on an adventure. We had nurtured this idea for a long time

but had failed to bring it to pass. Our destination was a small rock moun-tain called ELLIGUTTA just 3 kms away from my home in Hyderabad. This place used to be our hangout joint during the school days.

My friends came over to my house on July 13, a saturday, and we began our journey at around 2 pm. Despite having bikes, we decided to walk to this mountain for old times’ sake. Five minutes into our walk, it began to drizzle. But we chugged along, enjoying the light showers and recounting the good old school days. We allowed nothing else to bother us during this time. After 45 minutes of walking around lazily, we finally arrived at the mountain and began our ascent to the top. The path to the mountaintop was strewn with several big rocks and jumping from one rock to the other was extremely dangerous as we could have got trapped between them. But our efforts were all worthwhile. The view from the mountain summit, including a glimpse of Hyderabad, was simply breathtaking and we were left speechless while we gazed at what lay before us.

Having spent a great amount of time at the summit, we decided to begin our descent and touch base. But we were caught in our tracks by heavy rain and scurried for shelter in different directions. We waited for the rain to abate before proceeding further. However, the heavy showers continued without respite. After waiting for what seemed like 45 minutes, we decided to walk back in the heavy rain. Once we stepped out of our respective shelters, we could not even see each others faces as it was raining heavily. The rain was hitting us hard and we must have seemed like a bunch of idiots, though we thought it was the coolest thing to do. We were the only people walking on the road, laughing and chatting away; everyone else was huddled up in a shelter and watching us. It took us almost one and a half hours to reach home because of the

heavy showers. On reaching home, we cleaned ourselves, ate a few snacks made by my mother and chatted away. My friends left for their respective homes once the rain stopped.

The rainy day at Elligutta had bestowed on us indelible memories to cherish….

point, Seven Sisters waterfalls, Bhim Nala waterfalls, Gurudongmar Lake (17100 ft high) and

Yumthang Valley (the valley of flowers). On our last day at Gangtok, we visited the Rumtek Monastery which has a lot of hot springs. Our return journey to Bangalore was also a memorable one. We missed a train in between and had to shuffle between the compartments of a different train in order to avoid being penalized by the TTE! All in all, our trip to Sikkim was a memorable one. A trip wherein we witnessed heaven on earth!

Epcot, Disneyworld

Grand Canyon

Niagara falls from Canada

Mutton Masala Fry, Coorg (Kodava) Style

Ingredients

chopped

Method of Preparation

1. Rinse mutton pieces twice in water and drain.

2. Mix the mutton with red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Allow to marinate for 10 minutes.

3. Grind the onions to a nice paste.

4. Place the marinated mutton mixture in a pressure cooker and cook until soft. Do not add water.

5. Sauté the cloves, jeera and black pepper corns in a thick frying pan (or sauté pan) until light brown.

(masala).

7. Heat the cooking oil in a kadai (deep frying pan). Add the ground onion paste and a pinch of salt to the oil and fry the paste till light brown (adding salt helps the onions turn brown quickly).

8. Then put in the chopped tomatoes (or the kokum soaked in hot water) and mix well.

9. Add the cooked mutton to the kadai. Stir and mix well. Cook until the gravy reduces to about half.

10. Add the powdered spices (masala) to the mutton and stir well. Continue cooking till the gravy becomes thick and dry.

11. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

12. The mutton masala fry is now ready to serve.

By Evelyn NCDBangalore

- by Aparna,Bangalore

Fun under the umbrella! Preeti’s little ones Omkar and Nikhil, enjoying the monsoon

A traditional and quick preparation of mutton that can be eaten with rice as well as with rotis, chapattis and dosas.

- by Satish Kamsali,Bangalore

4

- contributed by Shilpi,Bangalore

a) Manoj b) Mukesh c) Jishnu d) Umesh

e) Sithara f ) Sowmya g) Shruti h) Shiva i) Aparna j) Kavitha k) Preeti

2.

1.

3.

4.

5. 6.

7.

8.

9.

10.11.

One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is to have a happy childhood. All of us cherish those sweet moments. The monsoon stirrs up memories that reach right back to childhood. Here we present to you some childhood photos of BQites forever frozen in time. We invite you to enjoy these photos and then try and figure out who these people are. Match the childhood photos above with the grown-ups below. Guess the correct answers and mail them to [email protected] by 18 July, 2014 (the latest by 10 am). The BQite who gets all the answers right will win an exciting prize!

Modeling in the rain! Niranjan, Bangalore Monsoon at Talakadu. Niranjan, Bangalore

So which one of Calvin’s moods do you share this monsoon?


5


6

It is with mixed emotions that I am writing this article. During the last one and a half years that I worked in BioQuest, I have learned a lot from each and everyone here. I have gained considerable knowledge in my position as a mobile app developer and will always cherish this period as one of the most satisfying phases of my career.

I enjoyed my stint in BioQuest and will definitely miss the team I worked with. I am particularly grateful to Ashok Sir for his support, insight, and help. I can never forget the time I spent with Remya, Silky and Jayalakshmi, especially the time when we used to hog pani puris. The Holi celebration

Past Company :

Hobby :

Favorite food/Cuisine :

Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

ABHIJIT PARKHE, Head Marketing, Bangalore. AMRUTA RAO, Manager Business Development, Mumbai.

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

EVELYN NCD, CRM Executive, Bangalore. MARK TEO, Key Account Manager, Singapore.

MUKESH RAJ, Motion Graphic Artist, Bangalore.

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

RAHUL GAIKAR, Manager Business Development, Bangalore.

SANGEETHA MEENAKSHI, Legal Advisor, Bangalore.

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

Medeka Health Pvt Ltd

Reading, surfing the net

Chinese – anytime of the day!Cannot name one, but I’m a movie buff.

Theatre can be my second home!

It was indeed a great experience. All my colleagues

and seniors were very warm, friendly and helpful.

Never for a second did I feel that I was new to the

BQ family. Everything including work and the people around.

They are very serious when it comes to work, but know

how to enjoy simultaneously. The positive atmosphere

helps you give your best shot professionally.

As of now, nothing!

Assetz Property Group of Companies

Reading travel magazines and blogs

South Indian tiffin items

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Chennai Express,

Nayagan, The Legend, Star Trek Series

Exciting, remember the names of only half the

people introduced to me

Very professional

Nothing

Citic Telecom CPC

Mountain Biking

Chinese Food

None

First day at BioQuest was tiring yet exciting for me.

Exciting because I was embarking on a new career

and tiring because I had to travel to Bangalore that

very same day.

People

None

Aris Global Software Private Limited

Reading, playing badminton

South Indian vegetarian cuisine

Mughal-e-Azam

Was confusing with lot of information of

different kinds

Informality and openness in interactions

Idiosyncratic and chaotic processes

Mphasis

Singing, reading novels, painting

Mutton briyani, cutlets & laddoos

3 Idiots

Butterflies in stomach, a bit scary

Very calm and peaceful

All are not so friendly.

Hate to work on Saturdays sometimes

Advinus Therapeutics Ltd (A TATA Enterprise)

Guitar

Bengali

Into the wild

Felt like playing football in the ‘home-ground’.

It was good.

Freedom of thought and entrepreneurial

behavior

Yet to discover the mystery

Zolipe Solutions Pvt Ltd

Exploring new things

Pasta white sauce

Avatar

Awesome!

Friendly environment

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

Digital Juice Pvt Ltd

Travel & photography

Veg dishes

The Godfather (1972), 12 Angry Men (1957), City

of God (2002), Inception (2010), The Dark Knight

(2008)

Was nervous and hesitant, but everything went

smooth because of team mates and work style

Vision and process meets here

Difficult to manage as a vegetarian

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

SATISH KAMSALI, Software Engineer, Bangalore.

VICTOR TAN, Consultant Business Development, Malaysia.

- by Aparna,Bangalore

in BioQuest is another fun-filled event that I retain fond memories of. Being a girl from Kerala, I had never celebrated Holi with so much zeal. I will also miss all the fun and gaiety of playing Secret Santa in office.

In a nutshell, the years that I have spent in BioQuest have been the finest in my professional life thus far. Although I am leaving this company, it will always be a part of my life. Thank you all for being wonderful coworkers. Will miss you all…

Nuvanta Sdn. Bhd. - Natural Factors

Sports - badminton, football

Japanese

Jason Bourne Trilogy

23rd June 2014

Flexible working environment

Still figuring out if any!

Past Company :

Hobby :


Favorite movie :

First Day in BQ :

Liked about BQ :

Disliked about BQ :

Documents

Bio Expressions July 2014