70-hour work week: Harsh Goenka’s idea of pitting Orry against Murthy leaves netizens wanting more

Indian industrialist Harsh Goenka, who is known for sharing motivational and interesting posts and keeping his social media followers entertained, on Tuesday (Dec 12) gave an interesting suggestion of organising a discussion over the controversial 70-hour workweek between Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and Bollywood BFF Orhan ‘Orry’ Awatramani. 

”Can someone please organize a conversation between Narayana Murthy and Orry on the need for a 70-hour working week!” Goenka wrote. He also posted a split image of the two personalities who are poles apart. In the last couple of months, both of them had gone viral over their interesting stance on work culture.  

Speaking in a podcast, Murthy had earlier said that the work culture of India needs to be changed and youngsters should be willing to work for 70 hours every week. Drawing comparisons with Germany and Japan, he said that many countries have implemented the extension of working hours.   

Many prominent business leaders also expressed their opinions on social media including Goenka, who had rejected the idea which propagated measuring productivity with a number of hours. ”It’s no longer about working 50 or 70 hours, but about your ambition, your purpose, and your productivity,” he said.

Meanwhile, Orhan Awatramani, who is popularly known as ‘Orry’, is often seen attending parties and hanging out with Bollywood celebrities. He has recently become the new internet sensation. Orry, who opposes working hard, has said that he sees himself as someone who is not just working but also living.

While speaking to Cosmopolitan India, Awatramani said that he “works very hard”. “I am working on myself. I am going to the gym, I am doing a lot of self-reflection, sometimes I do Yoga, I go for a massage, I am working, but I am working on myself,” Orry said. He is the same man who also famously said that he “lives”, therefore, he is a “liver”, which sparked a meme fest on social media platforms.

Watch: Bill Gates envisions a future without overworking humans

The netizens loved the idea of Goenka and shared a barrage of funny responses. ”One is a worker, the other one is just a ‘Liver’. It’d be interesting to see a conversation between them,” wrote a user.

”Work 70 hours a week, you’re WEAKER,” said another. ”New economy vs Old economy? That’s the perfect headline for the debate,” said a third user.

(With inputs from agencies)