Are we the best ???

Antaraatma !!!!

"Proud to be an IITian" --- this was the first ever one liner on an IITG T-shirt that I had worn. Truly, every person who gets through the rigours of preparation for an entrance to this institution is entitled to think in his own way, which I thoroughly respect. And hence do I request that viewer discretion would be advised, and that the material I produce is just my perception, if it does coincide with anyone's accounts, then kindly forgive me. A further request, I would not blog to boast, some of these are my true feelings which I would want to present, coz its high time I did that, and if anyone does know me, he would understand my intention right away ...

This essay starts where it ends. I met a high profile person, Mr.Himanshu Tewari, HR Head, India Operations, Transocean Ltd. just a few weeks back (For readers outside, I happen to be one fortunate person who gets to meet these kinds of people all the time). So was he special, truly yes, for he himself was a proud alumni of the system which I hail from, IIT. He wanted me to answer some of his questions, which he informed me were meant to be easy going. As I geared myself, the first question was "Have you justified your being an IITian?". That left me bewildered, and has thus forced me to sound out these feelings for once.

Of course, its easy to play the blame game, IIT never provided me what I wanted, what I had expected, what I always wished for. And thus does it make no sense in obliging it with something. But then, what have we done?

At the fag end of my UG career, I have forced myself once or twice to think about the aftermaths of my life at IITG. Quote:
What some consider the same ol' crap:

I went through the annals of history on wikipedia.org (how I love my homepage), and this is what I found, "IIT's" were an executive plan to work on the lines of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Initially recommended as Higher Institute of Technologies, they were later renamed as IIT's, and on the birth of the first one in Kharagpur, Our Honble PM Jawaharlal Nehru quoted,

"Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India."

Changes, yes he was right. It did change the sphere of education to a great extent, and the brand IIT soon was referred to the phrase "They sell like hot cakes". Days came along, the early batches did provide comfort to a certain extent, a majority of them as I do see, returning back to the IITian culture to teach us. They tried to resurrect the image forlorn by many others. Slowly, but surely things started looking good.

And now, all we do is boast of the impetus they provided to the "so-called" brand value. Guys, first yearites, consider themselves honchos, now that they are within the safe walls of an IIT. So what ?? I mean, well, the people outside too flourish. My friends still find me strange when I say that IITians are not the best, for I feel they are too deep rooted not to accept our defeat.
The defeat being, we too are "sheep" (read: Blog on Animals, Pink Floyd which would be coming soon), sheep in the herd.

People out here look at the following possibilities. A majority of them plan to do their Masters in US, stating reasons that India doesn't provide good education. True, but then if not them, then who would do that for the generations to come. Mr.Himanshu spoke it all right. "We guys think we are the best, we run to those univs. outside, but tell me, has anyone, literally anyone
managed to become a Nobel Laureate?". True, so true, has an IITian, the so called demi-god managed that till date ??

And some more, sheep like me, move to work in MNC's, which pay huge bucks, and little do we realise that this was not what was intended of us. We take pride in saying that atleast, we are ending up paying taxes to the Indian Government. Partly, thats the only satisfaction left out with us.

And the rest, they venture out for their MBA's, thus planning to become bigshots at early stages. No offences, its very much one's life, and spend it the way he likes.

But then, conscience, who answers that ?? I shamelessly accept that fact that I too have been sold out. But deep there, I need to answer all those questions I did state above. Yes, IITians mebbe intellectually great, but TRULY ARE NOT THE BEST !!!! Agree it or not, you wanna comment go ahead, but thats the way it is !!!

I dont expect everyone to end up doing their IAS, dont stand with the "work for the government" kinda philosophy. But then, some way that we give it back to the society, so as to make it a better place for all .. we need to think about that. I presume that at this point, I do need to stress upon organisations which are working for the upliftment of the society, and where
surprisingly, a majority of the members are just college passouts, who too want to shine and achieve dizzy heights in their life. They still possess the minimum etiquettes of serving the society, and so do we all need to.

I need to plan now, plan my future usefully, and devote a certain part of it for the aforementioned, thats my duty. And my duty starts with a mention about Pankhudi, for more information, please see

http://www.pankhudi-india.org/bangalore/

And now I go back, to my worktable, let Prasanna soothe my soul. And I shall blog, blog more, for my reasons and thoughts are quite still unfinished business.

P.S.: Dilbert was true about Ashok, nevertheless he missed some subtle points.

Adios,
Ghurram.