Satyam Is No More! Alas!

The debacle of the much-revered home-grown IT company Satyam Computers Ltd. has brought to mind a maxim “As you sow, so you reap”! (In Hindi, it translates to “Jaisi karni waise bharni”). Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s life would come to such an appalling pass that one could never come to imagine. It's really unfortunate, to say the least.

In fact, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was one of the virtuous Satyam employees who has worked for more than 5 years there. I saw Satyam grow by leaps and bounds. To me, Mr. Raju always came across as an epitome of sobriety and dignity. I saw him several times at Satyam offices and his calm disposition continually pervaded his behaviour. Once, I remember, he smiled at me when I greeted him with a good day and I fell into a state of a personal coup for quite a while. I too became one of the lucky few who happened to behold him converse with the ex-Intel CEO Craig Barret when the latter came visiting Satyam’s Technology Centre (STC), a state-of-the-art technology incubation hub.

Alas! Even today it is hardly believable that Mr. Raju could ever fall from grace and likewise suffer execrable, unimaginable disrepute, such as we are witnessing almost every day of the unforgettable company where I had worked with all my heart and soul for many years. His much-cherished success story will now be wiped away for all time to come. But, like me, there are so many others who always will hold him high in esteem and respect. I, for one, still do so because of the unforgettable fact that he brought incalculable happiness to all Associates of Satyam. I am now an ex-employee of the company but I still recount those wonderful days of my life at Satyam.

Today, people are so fretfully concerned about the future of Satyam’s legacy at least; whether or not it will stay put or rather wither away. But as and when things emerge and manage a clear picture of sorts out of this perpetual haze of unlikable happenings, the much-loved much-respected brand name "Satyam" is already in the process of getting erased for good. Thankfully so; it needs a permanent reprieve which has been provided almost on a golden platter by Pune-based Indian software giant Tech Mahindra. Yet, it gives me the deepest of sympathies (and anxiety) at the same time that the exceptionally happy days of Satyam’s great heritage that it supposedly amassed from over the long and apprehensive years of hard work (only of its own ambitious employees though!) are all about to breathe its last, sooner than later. And we all know that the glory of Satyam will perhaps never return.

Thanks to Tech Mahindra, the brand image of Satyam is in vogue though. As an ex-employee of Satyam, today I am in no way concerned whether or not Satyam survives with its brand name intact, but I am more concerned about Tech Mahindra's good image and excellent management skills. Ahoy! Tech Mahindra! Great going indeed! Wish you all good luck!

I wish Tech Mahindra hadn’t used the tag ‘Satyam’ alongside its name. In fact, why the heck Mahindra is hell-bent on using a tag like ‘Satyam’ after all? In keeping up with its famed high standards of corporate governance and “unimpeachable ethics” and all, does it still have to use the word like Satyam? Under what kind of misplaced moral obligation the Mahindra or Tech Mahindra is finding itself? I for one would think they would be far better off without that poisonous word called “Satyam”. I mean, no longer would one, in his clear and present mind, think wise to relate back to that same old Satyam fiasco!

Keeping the Satyam name alive - in whatever form – only smacks of those bizarrely harrowing days all Satyamites had to suffer for no fault of theirs. I think if the time has come to cleanse Satyam of its “asatyam” fame and its corporate accounting fraud then it is now. But Mahindra chose not to heed that.

No doubt, this negative naming convention perpetrated by the great Mahindra group clearly reminds one of those miserably shameful days on the part of Satyam’s accounting fraud caused by the man of no conscience called Ramalinga Raju. I may be speaking conservatively here, but I would like to believe that I am spot on that aspect. I mean, Satyam is no longer what it used to be once.

And a respected company like Tech Mahindra continuing to identify itself with the beleaguered brand name Satyam is a ramshackle proposition, whatsoever. Is this statement irresponsible? So be it. But I want Satyam to be back on rails. It is impossible to even think about that? Yea, I think so; and expecting the former to happen is tantamount to living in a fool's paradise!

By Arindam Moulick

[This article was written on June 2009]