The minute the news broke

Satyam Scam Panic, hysteria, terrible sadness... An employee's account of what happened at the company's Hyderabad headquarters...

Hyderabad's winter morning breeze slapping on the windshield, P Satish (name changed on request) drove the usual 11 km from home in his sports car to his office, Satyam Computers, on Wednesday. He reached at 9.30 am; the 28-year-old software engineer was hardly ever late in his three years with the company. At 11.30 am, he stepped out for his routine cigarette break. Midway through his lazy smoke, the mobile whirred: a message from a colleague.
"Raju has resigned."

Stubbing the butt, Satish walked back to office. "I tried not to rush," he told MiD DAY on phone.

Inside, somebody had as if turned a neat dollhouse upside down. Nobody was in his or her seat, Satish said. People were screaming across cubicles, a fresher was turning up the TV volume, others wildly surfing the Web, making calls or replying to messages, seniors answering a tide of queries, groups darkly huddling at the water cooleru00a0- a rugby match of a thousand sounds of disbelief had broken out.

In an hour, an Internal mail confirmed the news.

"Never have I seen the office so maniacally busy while doing so little work," Satish said. Stories of personal loss was unravelling at every desk, washbasin, aisle, smoking kiosk: a senior manager downed Rs 1.5 crore in Satyam shares, plans of buying a car or going on a holiday shattered, the next salary uncertain.

"My own wedding, slated a couple of months later, is suddenly uncertain. People would get scores of marriage proposals simply because they were from Satyam. Today, that very identity is reason for worry."
A couple of women had panic attacks and nearly fainted, he said.

Outgoing Satyam Chairman Ramalinga Raju, the centrepiece of this financial massacre, was missing for the last two days, along with most other senior executives.

"Raju was god," said Satish. "He came across as a strikingly simple man with great ideas. He was accessible, commonly dressed. When I had joined, this guy once came along balancing two giant popcorn packets and six soft drink bottles. I snatched large helpings. A colleague gently nudged me and said, 'Careful kid, that's the chairman.'"

Raju, he said, would get his family to office and introduce employees as "my extended family".

On Wednesday, people also talked about the pride Satyam had inculcated in its employees.

"Behave like a brand ambassador of Satyam even outside office, they'd say at the induction. Don't pick fights," Satish recalled. "Youngsters, especially, were so loyal and belligerent about the company that sometimes they had to be told not to react to people who foulmouthed Satyam."

Raju's philanthropy was like pin to the poster: the 108-ambulance service, adopted villages, bringing drinking water in remote areas.

"Satyam picked up unusual guys if it found them talented. A person had an auto repair shop which also issued pollution control certificates. He was offered a job. He went on to head one of the technical units even without a proper degree," said Satish.

Satyam's earlier tagline was, "What business demands." A year ago, it had changed it to, "Business transformation together."

"Indeed," remarks Satish.