We were precisely 16.588717 seconds late by the atomic clock, as we pushed open the door to the sprawling rooftop room at Hilton Towers, Mumbai.  On the other side of the table were seated our prospects-all immaculately dressed in near identical striped suit, grey black in color. Pale in complexion, prominent epicanthic fold over their eyes, depressed nasal bridge, but each one looking quite smart! Do they look at the world, their entire life, through slit camera like eye…? The lone girl in the room wore a buck-toothed smile and so did others. Hi, hello followed by quick introduction. Of course, Basu San bent quite elegantly to wish, while Ash and I extended our hands. Our prospects were Japanese.

One thing you should know about Japanese is that their names usually start with K (Is Balaji Telefilms listening?), I or O, very unlike we Indians. Of course, you have to suffix San.  It was difficult to remember names, so we discovered alternate way of identifying each one. “Man with good English”, “Smiling guy”, “one with receding hairline” etc. Girl was quite distinct, of course.

I surveyed the ambience while Basu San fiddled with the gadgets and, having overcome it, made an impassionate plea to engage us and to buy our solution. Beyond the glass windows, waves from Arabian Sea were meeting with their frothy end on the concrete tripods placed precisely for this purpose. At distance I could see small dots like ships waiting for berth at the congested Mumbai port.

The meeting ended with a cordial note. It was agreed that I will help the customers with Indian practices, products, processes, regulations….”Can you….. also pre…..pare the ………minutes of ……meetings, as our ……Engliiiiiish….. is not soooooooo goooooood..”

I came back with lots of self doubts. I was to visit them every week for the next few months.

I dislike wearing suit. Especially in the Mumbai heat if you have to travel on some rickety vehicles called ‘Taxi’ in Mumbai. Alternate ways of travel is an adventure sport in its own right. But I had little choice.

The meeting used to be a crowded affair. Some 6 to 8 people in the small room at Hilton and some 16 on the other side in Tokyo, listening attentively to each word I spoke. Not that it made immense sense to all. May be I was to be proven wrong later on.

Due to huge linguistic barrier, I resorted to using white board to draw and explain. They even attempted with a translator once. It was a disaster. Slowly we were able to communicate. I slowed down, started using simple (and even incorrect) English. Repeated stuff, started giving in writing… Their English too improved, far more than my Japanese, which was confined to ‘Mushi Mushi’ and “Hai” (replace Pai with H, as you pronounce). As the barrier lowered, we became friends. Cracking jokes, talking about cultures, festivals, local and international news…All, of course, at a price!

I think, the CFO took the lead. He stopped wearing jacket one day. I did not lose opportunity to follow. Then it was the turn of tie to go. I was quick to take the cue. Then the striped shirts gave way to wavy patterns.. till some of were down to Bermuda, at times. 

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. “Are you not tired of this constant travel?” One colleague asked. “Is it true that you go every Tuesday to Siddhi Vinayaka temple at Mumbai?” my sister quipped.

We made considerable progress. Process flows, IT infrastructure and IT maturity in India, Indian products, Indian regulation, operational guidelines, organizational structure, manpower planning, financial planning and projections, strategic implications, review of their presentations…Sometimes, I would get late evening call from an excited Japanese, struggling to explain, that the presentation prepared by me went down very well with the partner.

Infrastructure also improved gradually. An amoeba shaped black phone took its place of pride on the table. Webcams were installed, so that when the guys (and the lone girl) go back on their country (they did this every month, in turn), they could still see me and talk to me. Wonder, if it was worth any effort!

A few things you should know about Japanese way of thinking. Let us call it axioms:
•    Axiom1- There is one and only one way of doing things best. And everybody follows this practice in the market
•    Axiom2- What you can do is defined by regulation. If regulation does not specify, this can not be done.
•    Axiom3-If we collect as much information about all players in the market, especially their practice, we can combine these to reach the optimal level of efficiency. This axiom is sometimes at odd with the first axiom.

At times, it was frustrating as India is all about heterogeneity and we follow classical polytheism.  Also, our ability to handle abstraction is extremely high. For the Japanese, words are alphabetical equivalent of numbers—It has to be precise and used uniformly across.

As the engagement deepened, so did the trust level. We helped them identify and rate outsourcing agencies, gave them advices on the products to launch, how to get resources from market…

More troubles in store. Our friends wanted to visit competitors office. “I mean, how can I introduce you guys. You are competitors”, I nearly screamed. Pat came the reply. “Easy. Tell that you have a Japanese wife (pointing to the girl) and we are your relatives”. I was red behind my ears. Finally a compromise was reached. I will take them inside the insurer office, collect collaterals and walk back.

A couple of them could sense contradictions faster than Deep blue, I suspect. So, one had to be precise in response. It was quite acceptable to say that I do not know and I will get back. Of course, you get back in the next meeting,  else the deep blues are waiting.

Towards the end, the attention shifted to our Mumbai office, as a set of client members decided to visit us for a week for detailed discussion. It was intense; it was fun- experimenting with Masala Chai to Indo-Chinese cuisines from next door restaurant! They, of course, organized a return party. We exchanged small gifts-something which we normally do not do.  
       
The day we parted on completion of the project, some of the members were quite emotional. As we were waiting for the lift, I heard one tell me that he has never come across such wonderful set of people in his entire life. We will miss you all, he added, with moist eyes.

We too will miss you, our friends. But the world is a small place and we will get a chance to work together somewhere else too!

Sayonara!                                                                                     Close