u r a really nice writer rashmi,, and my honest advise to u is that u should write a novel ,,, u get talent that matches one of chetan bhagat and likes,,,, give it a shot,,, best of luck
Hi Rashmi - It was a good and thought provoking article. Else lazy bone like me wouldnt have cared less.
One important thing which you missed is comparision of top salaries for IIT and IIM grads with top tech and business schools like MITs or LSE.
IITs and IIMs became brands when there were no dollar salaries for grads from these institutes and they had to go through the grind which graduates from 2nd or 3rd tiers nowadays go through.
Even though nowadays there is recognition for IITs and MITs its still long way off when compared with MITs and LSE.
So guys in IITs would do well to compare them with these brands rather than comparing with 2nd or 3rd tier college passouts in India.
It took me 2 years to set shop in Delhi from Chandigarh about 1 year in Singapore and will probably take 6 months in Australia to do the same, that after passing out from 2nd tier college.
And after 3 years IITians are earning as much as me or for that matter Filipinos, Singaporeans, malayasians etc from 2 or 3rd grade colleges.This couldnt have happened in India in a 9 to 5 job.
And still I am no where within the striking distance salaries of MIT grads with 3 years plus experience.
So you like it or not its competitive world if this Brand of IITs and IIMs is not handled properly it will not mature into great brand to rival Stanford or MIT. For that to happen its more a case of value you add rather than starting salary you would get on passing.
And like many things Indian it may end as story of have great potenial but not necessarily happy ending.
Dear Rashmi, I am really impressed with ur frankness in writing these unpleasant truths which you reveal most cogently. But if on an impartial stand, behind all our clothes, we are all stark naked. We have stirred this competition in the name of excellence and development by being part of this system and we are all responsible for the quagmire of cutthroat competitive system right now. My school teacher would tell me the story of Buddha returning back to Yashoda after he attained to realization. Buddha told her how he had changed and whether she could see this change. His wife was however angry that he had left one night without saying and returned now after 20 yrs or so. So she says that she had one question to ask and that was, "Could you have attained this understanding here itself staying with me?" Buddha says","NOW I know that I could have attained it anywhere." Dear Rashmi, now probably know you could have attained to where you are anyhow..... Hope it is said is like a small path through the countryside. No one can really make it out initially but, when many people start passing by, the route becomes evident. I sincerely hope that you won't deprive us of the only hope of attaining to the ivory towers of the IIT's and IIM's.From your position, please tell us if there is another way to the goal. Otherwise you would also tend to sound like Arundhati Roy . I know this is not what you intend...
RE:Unpleasant truths
by sree krishna on May 05, 2007 03:20 PM
Sorry for the goof up, this article "Unpleasant truths" was a response to your other articlé - Where there's a coaching class, there's Hope.
I think wrong, very wrong article! it is not material or some thing palpable that it being tried to explain, it is the human psychology that is haywire and stretched. great institutes of learning, earnings abroad, problems in mind, chosen life style - they all lead to but one conlusion or goal : the PSCHYE: how one thinks? One's libido. I dont see anything wrong (having lived in 3 continents) in last 8 years at the hard earned money of my father (old, so what?) and also if one robs or is respected....nah _ in the end _ it is how you take it? Food and Sex _ thats all ! rest is all a build up. Details. Conversion in forex. buy sell option, Ivy league, 4 hours power cuts in Delhi. A sham. when why how ? nope. be it India ( which is definitely our motherland and bore us) or US or Rekyjavik, its all the same at core when it comes to PERSONAL. I was fascinated by the heading only DOLLARS EARNING but did not find the article enticing enough to make any point. It was a sum up of mind set of people. Billions of people - countless mind sets but as KANT and FRUED go _ girl boy man woman male female drink meat eat drink. Rest is functionality. Some in West, some East? why harp on it.
Your writing in Rediff, regarding truth about earning in dollars is quite impressive. You nicely pointed out, why the premier institute pass outs should stop migrating to US. But the question arises, what will they do staying back in India. We can expect some kind of exceptional works, industrial reforms or innovativeness from these super brains. Otherwise, ordinary day to day activities can be well accomplished by the people, who are from so called second or third graded institutes .As a matter of fact, any kind of reform, exceptional administration etc have nothing to do with a distinguished & discriminated qualifications, like IIMs or IITs. Many big & small establishments are there in India, which are founded and well managed by pass outs of ordinary colleges. Ours is a country where a man can get an exceptional job of 1,00,000 INR per month showing a coveted qualification, but he will face a tremendous challenging market & stiff competition from another, who may be less salaried, qualified from 2nd graded college, but equally efficient, if not more. But, in US an equivalent salary of 5 6 thousand USD per month is nothing exceptional. Though its always true that probability of getting people in the category of Narayanmurthy (IITian) or, Harsh Bhogle (IIM) is more among the premier institutes. But, Lions share of these premier institute pass outs is in the category, which is mediocrity, as because academic brilliance is not everything in practical field. They simply escape to US along with 2nd or 3rd graded to fulfill their superfluous superiority. Thanks to multinational culture, free market economy and IT companies that merely going to US is no more an achievement. If only money earning through qualification and luxury are their motives, well they can get it in India also. But, please, let the brains drain out and let mediocrity rule. At least the nation will be mediocre and not worst.
RE:EARNING THROUGH DOLLARS
by sushi on May 01, 2007 11:17 AM
Really sounds like sour grapes to me. Have you taken a census of IITians and IIMers, my dear woman? You speak with such authority: All these people MUST be mediocre! Wow.
The article is nice but the ending seemed like sour grapes for the writer. She says " The real appeal of 'foreign' lies for those who graduate from the second and third rung institutes. Going abroad, for them, is the only means of achieving quick and easy economic salvation. So, at great personal risk, they beg, borrow and pay their way into not-so-well known universities. And then fight for a job to recover the several lakhs 'invested'." This is a generalization that has no basis or maybe the people you know think like your small thinking.....
