A reflection on independence and the kind of company MCS set out to build.

Where this started

It’s a week to celebrate and reflect. We are approaching Independence Day!

Today is August 14, and it’s Friday. The rain is heavy, the breeze is light, and the thoughts are flowing freely. After all, we are celebrating freedom.

It’s a relatively light day at work too, and it is the day of our casual connect.

In our casual connects, we don’t stay on business strategy for too long. We talk about the business in our regular stand-up calls and quarterly checkpoints. The clients, the projects, the challenges, what we are building next—and, of course, the targets.

But in casual connects, the conversation usually goes through different topics. Our casual connect took one such turn today, and the thoughts lingered. We wanted to capture and share them.

With August 15 approaching, Independence Day became the subject of our conversation.

However, this isn't an idea we picked up because August 15 is around the corner. These are thoughts that already live within MCS, in the choices we have made and the kind of workplace we are trying to build. Independence Day simply gives us a beautiful and timely reminder to pause, revisit them and ask ourselves: are we still walking in the direction we had imagined?

We started with the obvious question: what does independence mean to us as a country?

But then the question became a little more personal.

What does freedom mean to us as individuals?

And then, naturally, we arrived at another question:

What does independence mean at the workplace?

We went down memory lane and thought about our beginning.

Why did we start MCS? What were we thinking when we started? What did we want to build? What kind of company did we imagine? And, more importantly, are we still moving in that direction?

We philosophised. We idealised. We talked about the kind of world we would like to live and work in.

Every August 15, India pauses to remember the freedom that we inherited as a nation. But freedom is not only something we inherit. It is also something we are expected to carry forward.

Each of us contributes to the country in our own way. Through the work we do, the way we treat one another, the people we employ, the opportunities we create, the communities we build.

This led us to think about a narrower question:

What does independence mean in the way we work?

We think, it began with a choice

MCS itself was born out of a choice.

Leadership’s choice to leave behind a relatively settled life in the USA and return to Kaiwara, a small town in Karnataka.

There was something deeply intentional about that decision.

The idea was never to choose between being local or being global.

It was to be both… To remain rooted in a small place while building something that could reach the world.

To create opportunities locally, while working with clients internationally.

To prove that geography does not have to determine ambition.

Perhaps that is our own little interpretation of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

The world is one family.

Build locally. Think globally. Create opportunities wherever talented people are.

MCS wanted to contribute to the development of Kaiwara and its surrounding communities.

We wanted to create employment opportunities here, across India, and, as we grow, eventually for people beyond India too.

The world has become much smaller. We think talent does not always need to move across cities or countries to find opportunity.

Sometimes, opportunity can travel to the talent…

Independence from the Office: Was Remote a Remote Idea?

This philosophy also shaped the way we built MCS. We didn’t build the company around an office.

We built it around trust.

We wanted people to be able to work from wherever they could contribute effectively. For us, flexibility can create the focus needed for meaningful work.

We adopted remote work not simply because people did not need to commute. Remote work, for us, is a mindset.

A mindset that requires people to be independent, open-minded, driven, collaborative and responsible.

It is easy to say, “We are remote-first” and mean nothing more than “You don’t have to come to an office.”

That’s not what we mean. Working remotely requires something much deeper. It means:

• Being able to manage your time within agreed work commitments.
• Understanding priorities, taking initiative and communicating progress without needing continuous direction.
• Asking for help when you need it, collaborating when collaboration is needed, and taking ownership when something is yours to solve.

There is a particular kind of freedom in that sense of working.

Freedom from being valued merely for physical presence, and instead building trust through ownership, communication and consistent delivery.

But there is another side to this freedom: responsibility.

A simple principle captures this:

“The cost of freedom is responsibility.”

Independence isn’t the absence of responsibility.

Perhaps it is the opposite.

Independence is what responsibility looks like when nobody has to enforce it.

Independence from the idea that career must follow one straight line

This form of independence matters to us.

Independence from the idea that a career has to be uninterrupted to be valuable. Not really for us.

If we want to build a strong workforce and ultimately a strong country, we cannot afford to waste capable people simply because their timelines don’t look conventional.

Sometimes, building a stronger economy is not only about creating more jobs. It is also about making sure capable people are not left permanently outside the door.

At MCS, a career gap by itself is not a reason to close the door on someone who has taken a break:

• For family.
• For caregiving.
• For health.
• For raising children.
• Or simply because life happened.

A lot of hiring systems quietly filter such people out. A gap in the resume becomes a question mark. A non-linear career becomes a risk.

We do not believe a career gap, by itself, should decide a person’s potential.

If someone stepped away from work and is now ready to return with the same discipline, capability and ownership that we expect from anyone else, why should the gap itself disqualify them?

A career is a part of a person’s life. It shouldn’t have to become the whole of it.

And perhaps this too is connected to independence.

The independence to pause when life needs you. The independence to return when you are ready.

Independence from having to be the same

There is one more freedom that we believe belongs in a workplace.

The freedom to be different.

MCS is secular in spirit. People may come from different faiths, cultures, backgrounds or philosophies. Some may be deeply religious. Some may not be. Some may celebrate certain festivals while others may not.

None of that should determine how much respect a person receives.

We want a workplace where people are free to hold their own beliefs, practice their faith, or choose no faith at all, while coming together with equal respect for one another.

Because independence also means having the freedom to be yourself without asking someone else to become like you.

Perhaps that is where diversity and unity meet.

Not in becoming the same.

But in learning to work, create and grow together despite our differences.

So, what does Independence Day mean to MCS?

We have built a company where:

• People are trusted.
• Clear expectations are matched with trust, communication and ownership.
• A career break, by itself, does not permanently close a door.
• Opportunity is not limited by geography.
• People can bring their beliefs, backgrounds and individuality to work without having to leave their identity at the door.
• "Global" does not mean forgetting where you came from.
• "Local" does not mean thinking small.

That is what independence means to us.

Not freedom from responsibility. But the freedom to take responsibility.

Not freedom from connection. But the freedom to choose meaningful connections.

Not freedom from belonging. But the freedom to build a larger sense of belonging.

We haven’t got everything right, and we are still evolving. But this is a direction we have chosen deliberately—and one we intend to keep walking in.

And to the MCS team

As we light this diya today, we hope its flame becomes more than a symbol of Independence Day.

A flame begins with one small light, yet it can illuminate the space and people around it.

May that be the spirit we carry at MCS.

May each individual bring their own light, their own ideas, their own energy and their own way of thinking.

And may those individual lights come together to create something brighter than any one of us could create alone.

We hope MCS continues to hold the spirit of independence, teamwork, peace and creativity.

• The freedom to think.
• The courage to take responsibility.
• The openness to listen.
• The generosity to collaborate.
• And the imagination to create something that did not exist before.

From each of us, to each other.

And from all of us, to the world.

Happy Independence Day.

Visit www.mayuraconsultancy.com/careers or connect with us on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/mayura-consultancy-services