We are Like This Only: Satyam in US

"Passage, O soul, to India! Eclaircise the myths Asiatic -- the primitive fables." With these words American poet Walt Whitman immortalised his efforts to unravel the mystery behind India, in his "Passage to India."

A century later, an Indian IT company is making similar efforts, to bring India closer to the Americans, with its "Community Outreach" Program to be launched on Indian Independence Day, August 15.

As part of the program, the company has produced a concept film on India and Satyam -- "Flow with Me, My Friend" which will be screened for its clients and local community centres and clubs in New Jersey, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, San Jose, Santa Clara etc, to help them understand India and its people better, and bridge the cultural diversity.

The screening of the Rs 7 lakh film, directed by Mani Shankar, will be followed by Powerpoint presentations on the cultural diversities as well as the commonalities between the the world's largest and oldest democracies and its people.

This will be again followed by the Indian nite, a cultural program that will see Indian geeks dressed up in ethnic attire over a get-together that will serve traditional Indian food, a company spokesperson told ET.

"Almost 75 per cent of our business comes from the United States. There are over 1,500 Satyamites working across that country, more than 100 of them work onsite, directly dealing with the US customers and delivering the job. But, there is a mismatch of cultures. For the US customers, Indians are alien and they can't comprehend our mannerisms and behaviour," says SVL Narayan, vice president, corporate communications. There have been instances where Indian geeks have said: "I am still working on it," when greeted with "How (are) you doing?" Or American complaints over the way Indians nod their head in the same fashion for both "nah" and "yeah."

Such problems related to communication differences and behavioural patterns can be addressed by the program, thus promoting better understanding of the ways of our Indian techies and increase productivity, he says.

The company hit upon the idea of the community outreach program after the success of a couple of such presentations on India, at the premises of some US clients. "Thanks to the positive response, we will be requesting senior managements of our customer companies and local community centres and clubs to invite us to screen the film, the presentations and organise the Indian nites," he says. The company, however, categorically says that though it imparts basic communication skills and business and social etiquette to its techies at the Satyam Learning Centre before they leave for the US, it's doesn't try to convert them into Americans. So the basic differences remain, and Indians face a lot of adaptation challenges.

"We will be making the Americans aware of these challenges, the differences in behavioural and communication patterns, and telling them that we'd like you to understand us better, and asking them to accept us the way we are," Narayan says.

Satyam, which has a presence in 35 countries across the world, is also planning to replicate the effort in the European, Asia Pacific, Middle East regions.