The first thing that nine of us in the branch did was huddle in a corner—the way a cricket team does before taking the field. I told them that we need to serve the customers to the best of our ability and we will never compromise our integrity. This is a lifetime opportunity to prove to the world what we can do. That became a daily ritual till 30 December. We did not ask for any reinforcement of staff from the headquarters. Nine of us formed three teams—two of my colleagues were managing the queue of the customers with the help of a lone, unarmed security guard; three were handling data entry and another three were at the two cash counters. I was overseeing the work of all three groups.