Cross Culture

Rangarajan sat at a table in the office canteen, rubbing his palms waiting for the samosa. The samosa that was given to all employees of Karmic Innovators, as evening snacks in a bid to boost employee morale while working late nights. Karmic Innovators, the company which was at the helm of India's IT boom. India's IT boom, which suddenly brought a lot of technology work from countries where Robs and Bobs and Mitachis could afford to buy a watch that could deliver e-mail - for the cost of an... er, samosa. Rangarajan's only culmination of e-mail and samosa would be at his office.

Ranga sat contemplating how to break the news to Subbu. Subbu's name had been recently added to the list of people to be laid-off by Karmic. Just as Karmic had been a leader in bringing tech jobs to India, so was it the leader in being lean, and the recent downturn of economy worldwide had put presssure on the profits of the company.

Rangarajan was Subbu's manager, and was tasked with breaking the news. The terms of termination would follow later. But to Ranga, all this was new. Subbu sat there talking about the recent changes he had made to the software for mobile phones.

"That damn vibrate mode gets triggered even without pressing the trigger button. Takei-san is going to have a fit - literally, when he starts using the phone."

Takei-san was Kyojiro Takei - a manager from Matsui Electronics, for whom Subbu's team was the vendor.

"Well, what happened to the english keyboard for that model... are you sure you pressed the right button? Where is the translator guy... whats his name? Anil?"
"Anil is missing for the last two days... Dude got engine-trouble in his car a couple of days back, and hasnt turned up since! Thats why I tell Jaya, never go in for a second-hand car."

Jaya was Subbu's wife. The marriage was recent, and the newly-weds had to shell out a heavy party to Subbu's team on account of the happiness. Unable to converse nonchalantly anymore, Rangarajan decided to break the news.

"Subbu you know, you dont have to worry about phone anymore.."
"Why? Did you get more freshers to handle the screen graphics?"
"No, worse..."
"Did the project get scraped?"
"uh.."
"I knew that %#$ Takei has been looking at a cheaper company... Is that what you were trying to tell me? huh? I knew about it already. Renuka was already hinting at that sometime back... I was kind of expecting it... anyways..."

Subbu got up and sucked his thumb clean of all the sambar. He wasnt using the spoon which came with the dish. The caterers had to clean it again anyways.

"But, Subbu..."
"Ranga, dont worry... we'll get a better project... anyways, catch you later..."

And he was gone.

"...and did you know you suckers cost me 22K on that party that you guys squeezed out of me?" That was Subbu on the way back from the hand-wash to the staircase.

Ranga sat watching the hot samosa that just got delivered.

*----------*----------*

Renuka sat staring unbeleivingly at Ranga.

"If you cant tell that useless tramp, I will let him know how productive his code was...", Renuka continuted, "For all the simple stuff he has been churning out as work, we could have saved money, by assigning a fresher to do the work.."

"But we knew he was new to this technology. We decided to try him out. And its not like he is not trying..."
"...blah...blah...blah", mocked Renuka.
"We talked about this already. Nobody else in your team...", her voice trailed.
"But... I... er... he just got married... poor guy, we squeezed an expensive party on him just a week back... now to say that he has lost his job..."
"But, Ranga... You have to understand. The management has its targets. We need to get rid of the bottom-5 right away."

Bottom-5. That was the name used to denote the list of employeess that Karmic managers thought were the least talented 5% of the workforce.

"hrm... but we should be calling it 'lay-off' and stop pretending like we are letting go of incapable employees. We should let the world know that we cant afford him anymore."
"Look here, Ranga. As a manager, your job is to help the management with its goals. At your level you do not get to comment about management policies. If you mix personal feelings with professional life, Karmic will find someone to let you know that you fall in the bottom-5 of managers...heh heh heh..."

Renuka Gupta, the perfect manager of personal and professional life, sat giggling at her own joke.

"OK", Ranga said, breaking the laughter, "I will arrange a meeting with him to let him know."
"Good... and stand up as a professional manager."
"...And by the way..." Renuka continued, "You know we are letting Anubhav go, right? Today is his last date. We decided to merge Anubhav's team with yours, so you are the manager for both teams starting tomorrow."

Ranga straightened up with pride, and spilled a generous smile on his face.

"Thank you Renuka. Thank you. I will do my best... Thanks for the confide...", words trailed as he shook his hand alone in anticipation.

Renuka's eyes went to the computer without acknowledging his joy, as if she just announced that she would be having lunch alone - as a matter of factly.

"Maybe that is how one should handle official news... with no personal touch. I should learn from her. After all, she has been in the US for 7 years...", thought Ranga, and he collected his papers from Renuka's desk.

Ranga's ego flew high, but one only saw a drooped head as he left Renuka's office.

*----------*----------*

Subbu couldnt hide his agony when Ranga broke the news to him - matter of factly.

"But why couldn't you at least drop a hint about it. I could have looked out...". Subbu was near tears.
"Its a management policy.", Ranga said loooking at his computer monitor.

*----------*----------*

Two months later, Renuka came by Ranga's desk, and sat comfortably on Ranga's desk.

The last two months had been good for Ranga. A new team, and a new project tasked under him, he looked all set for his next climb up the corporate ladder. So, had the training he had attended indicated.

"You are here because Karmic thinks its future is you. YOU.", the trainer had said pointing to Ranga.

His short trip to Michinaso, Japan had been good, and the project he clinched made him a favorite with the management. Life started looking up.

Renuka's ways with Ranga had changed too. She had started handing down more important tasks. He was looked
up as the successor to Renuka more and more. Her trusted lieutenant, confidante and emissary.

"You know, Takei-san has been asking for a india-manager from Matsui Electronics. In effect he wants a Matsui manager to manage the projects here. What do you think?"

That effectively meant that Ranga had to report to two managers. A prospect Ranga didnt like too much.

"Cultchur, Takei-san. Cultchur problem desu", Ranga explained in a mix of english and japanese, over the telephone later.
"ah, I see... wakarimastha, wakarimastha...hmmmmmmmmmm", stretched the japanese manager, understanding the concerns of his indian team. For him, the Karmic team was no longer vendors. They were 'family'. He was saddened by the recent decision of Karmic to let a slew of people from his team go.

"so, so... I undershsthand...", he continued in a katakana accent, "tho, I...discuss with... with... Yui-san. Yui-san, abouth this. Sank-You", and profusely 'Sank-you'ed the team till they agreed, over the crackling telephone line.

"Sank-You, Sank-You", Renuka mocked Takei-san, shaking hands with Ranga, after the call. Ranga smiled thinking of his change of fortunes over the past two months.

*----------*----------*

A month and several meetings later, a representative from Mitsui Electronics, an "Indo-jin by origin" - as per Takei-san, had arrived at the Karmic campus. Renuka and Ranga were to meet with him, along with the management. As Ranga struggled with the powerpoint presentations, Renuka was busy arranging an evening high-tea for the visitor.

The meeting had been scheduled for 10 am. Renuka and Ranga were unusually dressed in formal clothing, as they entered the room, where some members of the management, and the representative from Matsui Electronics had already gathered.

"Mr. Subramaniyam Doddala", whispered the HR manager, and skillfully pointed to the representative with her eyebrows. The man was short and dressed in suit. Hiding behind the laptop screen, he was typing furiously at the keyboard with atmost ease.

"Ohayo, Subramaniyam-san, Watashi no Renuka desu, Ano wa Ranga-san desu", said Renuka, offering her hand.

"Please call me Subbu-san. We know each other already, so lets cut the chit-chat and discuss about the vibrator feature for the M-series.", said Subbu-san, alias Subbu, without looking up from the screen.

*----------*----------*