The beauty of Satyam

A quote from a Satyamite-->

At a time when almost 90% of my Satyam friends are cribbing about the
fraud and betrayal by Ramalinga Raju, I have a slightly different
opinion. It's bold of me to write this in black and white but this
comes straight from my heart and experience.

Let me start by quoting an example of 2006. Most of my friends were
unemployed with 50-60% plus marks in BTech, with a degree from an
average University and hunting madly for a job. Whether people accept
it
today or not but the truth remains that Satyam was the ONLY saviour
and
the only mass recruiter who was ready to accept students who had back
logs but had cleared them and also it did not put a very strict
minimum
marks criterion. And this was true not only for my small college at
Lucknow but also those across India . Satyam is the fourth largest in
IT
in India. Looking at India's population I really want to thank Raju
for
giving some 54000 Indians jobs atleast for all these years . He was
the
reason for the revival of confidence and the reason for the bread and
butter for many a families.

Satyam training was renowned all over India. Their STC training centre
created numerous love stories and unexpected rekindling of a youthful
environment where girls and boys were more indepenent than their
college
days . I remember most of my Satyam friends felt that they made better
friends at Satyam's three to six months training than those in the
four
years of BTech.

Unfortunately people forget to thank God in sad times . I understand
that what Raju did is deplorable and unpardonable. He should have
treated business more formally and not dealt with it like a family
affair . He should have been strict a couple of months or years before
itself. Why did he hire so many non potential candidates and keep them
on bench? When were the managers and the team mates last told that if
they dont work hard, they will lose their job? Business cannot be run
lousily.

I have been staying with some 200 odd girls for the last 2 years and
many of them are from Satyam. Moreover I network a lot and I have lots
of male friends at Satyam . I have seen how people tail gate to
Satyam,
how they give their swipe cards to others to swipe it on their
behalf ,
how female employees have gone home sharp at 6am irrespective of when
they landed at office, how employees sit at home for months at a
stretch, prepare for all kind of post graduate entrance exams and
still
enjoy a full month's pay, how often they went for movies at local
theatres at office hours, how often employees went to office just to
sign on registers in the morning and at evening, how often they faked
their certificates , how often they put unlimited fake medical and
house
rental bills.

How can we blame just one man when EACH AND EVERY person was
disloyal ?
How can we exclude Auditors like PwC ? How can we exclude the Board of
Directors who have washed their hands off so clean? How can we exclude
banks who gave hefty loans without true verfication? How can we
exclude the Chief Minister of AP who allowed leniency for Raju's
fellow businessman? How can we exclude managers who were never able to
trace which bench employee under him had been away from office for how
long?

Yet how can people forget this is the same man whose ideas and
potentials gave them an identity for the past several years? How many
couples found the right match at an IT industry , courtesy Satyam and
how many Andhra farmers benefited from their crores of investments in
Satyam shares .How can people forget that Satyam launched its offices
right at the doorsteps of a residential colony, where people can
simply
walk to work ?

The most gruesome experience that I can recollect was when a Satyam
tag wearing person was waiting to attend an interview and I overheard
him saying that he was in a business meeting at the My Home Satyam (
Madhapur) office when he was sitting right infront of me at a totally
different company. When employees themselves show such a lousy
attitude and dont care a damn for the brand that they carry around
their neck, how can they expect others to care?

I am not saying that ALL Satyam employees are bad. I have known very
dedicated people too, but my point is very clear, before pointing
fingers at others, introspect .There are thousands of people who have
completed certifications at the cost of Satyam, got trained at Satyam.
Satyam made several freshers stand on their feet to get better jobs
elsewhere across the globe and attain onsite exposure through Satyam.

What Raju did was to keep the business of Satyam going at any cost. I
see a very smart man in him when he understood that he should rather
accept his mistake than be caught by the USA laws . I see a selfish
father in him too that he put a lot at stake for Maytas. However, he
resigned with a lot of dignity and his letter of resignation shows
humility. It takes a mammoth amount of courage to accept your mistake
in public at a time when the media is ready to blow everything out of
proportion. If humans dont make mistakes who else would ?

My last salute to this man is for creating such mass employment in
India
for 57k employees and 57k families when even opening a beetle (pan)
shop in a lane in India is a challenge !! Thanks to him for creating
income for all the thousands of families who benefited through food
chains, the tiffin wallahs, the transport people and all those who
made money by renting their houses.

I read he donated Rs 12000 crores from his personal pocket to give the
January salary of his Satyam employees. Today Satyamites call Raju a
FRAUD. The true and loyal Satyamites surely have all the reasons to
say
this word. But all the rest who sucked every rupee out of Satyam
without
doing any value addition need to understand - who was a bigger fraud.

Komal Rastogi