Sunday, April 02, 2006

A Question has many Faces

Every response reflects a perspective - and perspectives merge to craft the ideal solution.
A recent debate among final year students in a college featured a hot topic that is being discussed by most aspiring graduates - 'Where to work?' Or, rather, 'Whom to work for?'

It was not a choice between working in India or working abroad that caught their imaginations as much as that between working for a home-grown "Desi" company and working for an MNC. The craze for moving to greener pastures wasn't all that evident, at least in that particular group. After all, why would one want to move, when the taste of "Videsh" is brought right into one's own home town by the MNC's?
What was striking was the way the debate focussed on one's "Responsibility towards the Nation", while comparing the two work environments - nothing was discussed about the relative levels of professionalism or other cultural differences that could be inherent! It made one wonder if the MNC's have been absolutely successful in demolishing the cultural barriers that would have made them stand aloof, as aliens, perhaps. "Would you not serve your Nation better if you worked for your own Nationals rather than sweating it out for the Multi-Nationals, who are bound to take over the "Desi" firms one day or the other?" was the theme of the debate.
The verdict is not important here - the Question is! For, a verdict is just one view - but a question has the potential to let views from different perspectives pour in. It unleashes the capacity of the mind to delve to the depths in search of a solution - and every by-product of the process is an invention in itself!