Getting To Know Our Indian Partners!!

Preeti Joshi

When you meet Preeti, you see a really cute, sweet young woman. And she is! But,she is also very aggressive when it comes to her job. Preeti is inside sales in Mumbai. She works closely with the sales team and enjoys helping customers with her vast knowledge of parts and Haas machines. Preeti has received the Brand Ambassador Award.

When I asked Preeti what she liked about her job she told me that her opinion matters. That when she talked, she was listened to. Not that every thing she suggests gets implemented but she knows that it was considered. That means a lot to her. When asked what she would like to make her job better, she said she would like more technical training for her position. She feels it would help her, to help her customers even more.

Preeti grew up and still lives in Thane, about 2 hours from work. In order to get to work, she takes a bus, train and walks. That is so amazing to me. You really need to be dedicated to your employer and happy with your job to travel that distance. Thankfully, Preeti lives with her inlaws. This is called a joined family in India and is very common. Because of the long hours during the week for Preeti, they help take care of her adorable son, Archit.(Preeti says he is the Love of her life!)Preeti's inlaws also cook dinner during the week to help her out. 

Preeti went to college in Thanes and got her degree in accounting.Friends are very important and she still stays in touch with her college friends. Her sister is her best friend!!!

Preeti married Sunil in 2010. They met in college and after 9 years they got married!  Their marriage was a love marriage. You can see it in their eyes! 

Preeti lives near her Mother and Father. She also lives near her younger sister that got married a couple years ago. Family is very important to Preeti and she enjoys the time she gets to spend with all of them.

Preeti's religion is Hindi and Ganesh(the Elephant God)is who she worships. Preeti enjoys all the holidays and festivals. 

Especially Diwali,dancing and hanging out with her son!

Preeti is a vegetarian and most holidays involve eating! Preeti's favorite food is Chat. Chat is a street food but Preeti likes to make her own, that way she can make it very spicy! I like spicy, so she told me she was damn sure I would like it!  hmmm.. Looking forward to trying it!

Preeti loves music and romantic movies. She loves to travel and the one place she wanted to visit one day was the west coast of the Unites States!  The reason I say wanted instead of wants,is because she got to go there to the Haas meeting this past February! She truly enjoyed meeting every one at Haas and even accepted the award for India at the meeting. Very exciting time!

She also got to go to Universal Studios to hang out for the day!

And saw some pretty cool cars. Though, Mustangs are her favorite!

Preeti loves traveling all over India. Especially to Manali in northern India. It seems the colder the better! Skiing, riding a Yak and holding bunnies!  I think they held the bunnies to keep warm!!!

She also likes to trek,that is hiking, with her family and friends,  Thankfully in warmer places!

Preeti now gets to chose another place in the world she would like to travel to. Singapore!! She has heard they have a great zoo and she loves animals. I bet she goes there as well!

Preeti grew up admiring her Grandfather. He was the personal assistant to the police commissioner and would come home and tell her all kinds of interesting stories.

Preeti says she is a talker! Everyone knows just about every thing about her! (except she loved to play badminton when she was young). The one thing she would like everyone to know is she is honest.  You will always get the truth from her. No matter what! 

Ujwal Garde

Ujwal Garde

As many of you have heard, one of our Indian Partners, and a very good friend of ours, Ujwal Garde has had a paralytic stroke. He is in critical condition in a hospital about 6 hours from Pune. We don't have many details yet, but his vitals seem to be stable, though he is unable to communicate.

Dave and Ujwal became really good friends while we were living in India. They became even closer while he was here in the US training.We really enjoyed spending time with him here in North Carolina. I even cooked my first Indian Vegetarian meal for Ujwal.  He was very kind and told me it was good but I am sure he was very anxious to get home to Radha's cooking!

Dave and I had a chance to meet and spend some time with Ujwal and his family while in India. He has a beautiful wife, Radha and 2 young sons, Shubham and Ashutosh.  

There was a moment of prayer for Ujwal yesterday at 11am in India. That was 1:30am for us here in the US, on the east coast. They are a wonderful family going through such a heartbreaking time.  Please take some time today and in the coming weeks to pray for Ujwal and his family.  

Getting To Know Our Indian Partners

Dorina Sharma

Independent, Hardworking and Adventurous! Those are just three of the words I would use to describe Dorina.

She grew up in Pune, but her roots are from Goa. That is where her Great Grandparents are from.

Even though Dorina never lived in Goa, she loves the taste of the food from that area. Dorina is not a vegetarian, and her favorite food is Goa's fish and rice, flavored with curry and coconut. At home, Dorina enjoys cooking, and makes a great Dal Bati. That is lentils cooked with ghee (cooked butter) and spices. She has promised to make us Dal Bati next time we come to India!  Mmmmmmm... We will keep her to that promise!

Even though Dorina is not a vegetarian, her two sons, Karan and Palash are vegetarians. Out of respect to her sons, Dorina cooks vegetarian at home.

Dorina is a practicing catholic and has always been comfortable with her religion.

Dorina met her husband (Deepak) in Pune while he was at the university studying for his PHD. Deepak's religion was Hindu. Dorina and Deepak fell in love and once Deepak finished school they married and moved to Indore where they lived with Deepak's family. It is very typical for the wife to move into the husbands family home with her in laws. What is not typical is for the wife to be catholic. Deepak's family welcomed Dorina and loved her very much. Dorina, out of respect for her in-laws, stopped eating meat and learned how to be a great vegetarian cook from her mother in-law.

Dorina's inlaws, as well as Deepak, encouraged her to follow her dreams and go back to school to become a teacher. Dorina went back to school and got her degree in education.  

Dorina got a job at a school in Indore once she got her degree. She taught Economics to high school students. Dorina also became the department head for the Montessori school. While teaching the 5th standard, Dorina had a student with the reputation as "the naughtiest student" in school. No one wanted him in their class! Well, 3 years later, there was a competition at the school and this student wrote and talked  about Dorina. The assignment was to write about some one you aspired to be like.  Every one talked about people that had already passed away. He began his talk saying that he did not understand why every one felt the need to aspire to be like some one that died when you could aspire to be like a teacher, and he began talking about Dorina. What a great compliment from a student. Especially from a high school student! (the naughtiest in school!). This student won second prize! Dorina lived her dream of teaching for 13 years.

After 14 years of marriage and living in Indore, away from her family, Doina's husband Deepak passed away. He had multi function failure. He had been very sick with kidney problems. They had 2 children, Karan and Palash that were very young. Dorina stayed on with her in laws for a few years then moved to Pune to be near her parents and brother.  Dorina moved in with her parents for a couple years, then moved into a place of her own with her children.  Dorina had several offers of marriage and was encouraged to remarry but she was very independent and did not want to bring another man into her sons lives.  She felt like they had gone through quite a lot loosing their father at such a young age.  She could only think of them at this time in her life.  Dorina was told that they would grow up and marry and she would be on her own.  She responded with "she would cross that bridge when she gets there".  She has never regretted that decision.  Dorina lives by the motto "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all." Dorina's two sons, Karan and Palash are her world!

Dorina loves to read. Mostly philosophy and poems. Her favorite poet is Robert Frost. A matter of fact, her motto at work is from one of his poems, " And miles to go before I sleep". 

Dorina also likes to shop in her spare time.  She is quite the shopper. She knows where to get any thing you need!  

Dorina drives her scooter or her son's motorcycle to work each day. It takes about 20 minutes. She let David drive it one day! Scared us all to death! Ok, just me!

Dorina really enjoys her job at Phillips. She started with the company working for Terrence in 2006. She worked in the scheduling department for service. She was very involved with customer service and helping the customers with pre install details and unlock codes. She also managed the administration part of the Pune office. Once Phillips bought the company in 2008, Dorina became the HR manager. Dorina not only keeps the office running smoothly, wearing many different hats, she makes sure Indian traditions are part of the work place! 

Dorina was awarded the Brand Ambassador Award in 2009. She has worked very hard and continues to work very hard to make Phillips a wonderful place to work. Dorian's favorite part of her job is helping some one and seeing a smile on their face once they have accomplished their goal. In a way, Dorina is still living her dream as a teacher.

Dorina enjoys traveling and would like to travel to The Vatican City in Italy one day. In the mean time... Adventure is Dorina's middle name.  She enjoys being active, as you can see from these great pictures! 

Something Dorina does not talk about, is her love for singing!  She has a beautiful voice and sang one night at Texas Night (yes, Texas night!) at the Oakwood in Pune with Chris! (sorry Chris, what happens in Pune, doesn't always stay in Pune!)

I think Dorina has lived an extraordinary life. As in her favorite poets words, she has "Traveled the road less traveled" and from what I can see, is living life to its fullest!