The bottomline then: prepare or perish

A fractured verdict. Satyen Nagpaul, a 25-year-old marketing manager puts it succinctly: "In terms of money, Yes. In terms of satisfaction, No."
Management and IT professionals, even doctors seem content. Philip Jose, 24, an analyst based in Kolkata is clear: "Yes, there are definitely more opportunities. Firms are more professionally run, with merit-based career paths and compensation in place."
Siju K.Jacob, 27, MDS, consultant endodontist, Bangalore is with him: "Definitely. The working conditions and the financial benefits have improved dramatically. Even if a professional goes abroad for some time, it makes great business sense to come back to India because the opportunities are tremendous."
The world is anyway becoming smaller, claim the young. "It doesn''t matter which part you work from anymore," says Chirag Patel an IT professional from Ahmedabad.
Darshan Purohit, a filmmaker also from Ahmedabad, agrees: "Gradually the foreign work culture is seeping in and pays are better."
Others like Dadwal differ: "The work environment in the private sector has degenerated over years with scales steadily tilting in favour of employers, at times nearing exploitation." Shefali Bhushan explains: "The Indian work environment for the ''educated elite'' and the ''educated elite'' only is certainly more attractive in as much as facilities available at the work place, perks etc. But finding work is not easy and I am not sure whether it has improved over the last 10 years. To my mind it has gotten worse."
Abbas Tyrewala is bitter: "Finally, even the illusion of a dynamic future for the Indian market and dreams global domination are dying a quiet, non-fussy death. Brain drain will never be passe. "