Just when things looked like they were going to get violent a police jeep arrived on the scene and all the workers quickly retreated to the grounds outside the gate, where they sat shouting slogans.

This was all very unexpected. I suggested to Prasad that we drive back to the city and discuss the situation in a more relaxed atmosphere at the Taj or the Oberoi. But he was already on the phone with the JHA CEO. After a half-hour long stand-off, the JHA CEO and an employee union leader met with Prasad for a few minutes. The union leader then huddled with the employees and within a few minutes the crowd had cleared and things were back to normal.

Prasad immediately convened a meeting of the team in the operations centre. He was very angry and said that some of the JHA employees had somehow got hold of the Dufresne presentation which had been showed to the leadership committee in confidence. (SHIT!) Amongst the Dufresne deliverables mentioned in it had been manpower rationalization. As soon as employees saw this they assumed that Dufresne was here to implement layoffs. Union leaders got involved and this resulted in the wildcat strike. I wanted to explain immediately, and honestly, that I was responsible for this crisis but did not want to disturb Prasad while he spoke.

He had explained to the workers that it was a generic presentation. And that as of now Dufresne had no intention of recommending any layoffs whatsoever. After some grumbling and some name-calling the workers finally stepped down and called off their protest.

He then asked us if anyone of us knew how the employees had got hold of the presentation. Again, I was very close to owning up to this crisis, and was crafting a perfectly worded statement in my head with a complete apology, when Prasad said that we all must be more careful and avoid all data leaks at any cost.

The rest of the day was much more peaceful till we went to the guesthouse at night.

It is TERRIBLE. There is no room service, no Internet, the rooms are NOT air-conditioned, they want us to use mosquito repellent coils, and when I asked the old man in the kitchen, who speaks not a word of English, for a Red Bull he went away and then came back with an unripe banana.

The fridge only had bread, butter and apples in it and for dinner we had to order in pizza from some local outlet. They only had two varieties: veg pizza and cheese pizza. Both are exactly the same except that the cheese pizza has more cheese.

I think I will die of food poisoning before JHA gets over.

Tomorrow I finally get to talk to the SAP and purchase automation teams. I think it will be the most important piece of my work with JHA. High hopes.

16 November 2006

7.40 p.m.

This day will go down in history. I doubt if a management consultant has ever helped his client save as much money with a single piece of advice as I did today.