Over the years we've received many enthusiastic comments about posts that are more human-interest in nature, including stories of the goings-on in our offices. So we figured it's time to introduce a new series. This new series will follow the exploits of the three members of our team that hail from India. Today will be mostly introductory for you, but over time we'll follow these young guys to see what they are up to.

These three gentlemen's names are Sai Ram, Sai Manoj, and Madan. Sai Ram was the first to join Pendant, several years ago. Sai Manoj and Madan joined more recently. For obvious reasons, Sai Ram lays claim internally to the name Sai, while Sai Manoj is referred to as Manoj. However, Manoj's email address begins with S rather than M, and sometimes people outside Pendant refer to him as Sai. One client in a phone call, to avoid confusion as to which Sai we were discussing, referred to Sai Ram as OG Sai (see the definition from the Urban Dictionary below if you're unfamiliar with the term), and it's now going to stick. But we're going with Two Sais and a Madan just because it sounds a little like a sitcom, right?

OG Sai was the first to get married, late last year. Madan will follow soon. And Manoj, as the youngest of the bunch, says he's way too young. We're all fascinated by the process, and wondering how you feed 1,200 guests at your engagement party, which is the number of guests that attended OG Sai's engagement party in India a while back (I'm pretty sure I don't know enough people that would want to bring enough guests with them to a party of mine). And not only that, when you film the event, how do you get a soundtrack that lasts long enough for each guest to step up and bless the happy couple with a guy playing what I referred to as the Hindu saxophone? The guys politely corrected me to inform me that the instrument is called a Nadhaswaram, and it is played frantically like you'll hear at different spots in this video: Nadhaswaram music

Now let's get one thing straight - these guys like their food: preparing it, talking about it, eating it, etc. OG Sai in particular is an Indian foodie, and he can be very harsh on local Indian restaurants if they are not serving what he feels is authentic cuisine. He has a special fondness for biryani, which I learned from him the other day is complicated to prepare and can almost be likened to an Indian version of lasagna, with layers of rice standing in for the pasta. He resents the pasta reference because he despises Italian food, but to prove he's not a food bigot he does like Peruvian chicken, Korean BBQ, and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Both OG Sai and Madan are members of our software team and work extensively on implementing our Revolution Street WXS during warehouse automation projects. Madan also takes much of the grief when something goes wrong with our home-grown ERP application, which we call Project X. When I told him about this series, he told me it was "very concerning". I'm not sure why, exactly, other than we do like to joke around frequently, and maybe he's concerned he'll be caught out of his crease (that's a cricket term for those that are unfamiliar, and of all the people from India I have ever known, these three are the least interested in the sport, so I can't even work up a nasty opposing fandom when my beloved England side takes on their side from India).

Manoj on the other hand is one of our controls engineers, and works wonders with a PLC. You might be lucky enough to run into him on a startup one day. But don't make the mistake of thinking he is Hispanic, like one guy did. Manoj has big plans, which I'll tell you about in a future blog post. For now, let's just say that the spirits of Duke Kahanamoku and Michael Schumacher are strong in him.

One last thing that was odd. OG Sai was not the first member of our team that married a bride from India. That honor fell to Alex Cardosi, another member of our software team. I don't know for sure, but I suspect Alex does like Italian food. I also don't know for sure, but I guess it's possible that Alex and/or his wife prepare themselves an Italian meal from time to time. So I think I need to stick a microphone in OG Sai's face and get his hot take on that possibility. Could be great fodder for Two Sais and a Manoj Part 2...

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