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I cease to live when I cease to think….

This is a story about me, JMET, MBA, Rankings, IIT Kanpur and our life thereafter. It all began with my team lead (the software guys will know who this creature is) asking me to stop using my creativity and start working according to the standards (alias best practices) of the industry. Now that’s something that said “The end is important and not the means”. And how true. All of us, yes all of us, spend our lives trying to achieve a good END but what about the means; the process; the journey one undergoes to achieve that end. And that’s when I decided I need to get into a place where I am taught to think, to have a mind of my own and to live my life with my MEANS.

MBA, masters in business administration… the most coveted degree। The translation of which has become M-Money… B- Bucks… A- Almighty Dollars… Yeah, the only thing that can get you a life and a wife (and for the girls… the best credential on your resume to help you become a wife).

Exams, followed results, application process, GD/ PIs, Calls…। A hurricane came and left me with choices which apparently could make my life (and according to some waste it too). I had final converts from IIT Kanpur and four other colleges. And of these four, three were ‘ranked’ higher than Kanpur…. ….and to the wonder of many mortals who surround me “I chose IITK!!!!!” … Yeah append that with a hundred more exclamations and you will be a little close to what expression I saw on their face when I told them this. So who cares for the rankings? Anyone who has studied management subjects during bachelors or does serious reading for getting into a b-school would know what kind of ‘research’ goes into these rankings. The sample is too small or too skewed, too opinionated or too biased. And I make this statement not only for B-School rankings but in general for all rankings that happen on and off. What one fails to realize is that one has to put in her/his own research into deciding the place one wants to spend the most crucial two years of her/his life. Can a few questions, some biases, some parameters decide where and how ‘you’ will be happy, where and how ‘you’ will learn, where and how you will ‘think’.

It’s been over 22-23 years people thought for us and decided। My parents decided my school, my teachers decided my marks, my friends decided my congeniality, my seniors decided my rating. When do I think and decide for myself. I think and decide here, each and every day of my life… in IIT Kanpur.

My faculty are not teachers… they are partners, motivators, peers, mentors, propellers; into the phenomenon called learning and learning on my own। I feel privileged to be in a place where independence, merit, smart work and initiative are given respect… and whoever said I made a wrong decision… you can take a ride! (We all have beautiful bicycles here at IIT K and I will be glad to offer you mine for it)

So no gyaan, no bakwaas… like sprite I keep it enough to quench your pyaas…decide on the college you want to go to on your own. Let no rankings, no experts, no pundits decide what you do for the best 2 years of your life. IIT Kanpur gave me a blank canvas to paint my thoughts (am reminded of Ishaan Awasthi, TZP), and, I am sure it will, to all who are related to this institute.
My story is to continue for another year and half and I will be delighted to share one of the best moments of my journey called ‘life’.

Neha Bhardwaj
Class of 2009
IIT K MBA.

Comments

  1. Yashodhan ShevadeApril 4, 2008 at 4:04 PM

    For now. Two Words. "Totally Agree"
    Will share my experience at IITK when I get time off to rethink where life is taking me. ;-)

    - Yashodhan Shevade
    IIT K MBA batch of 2006
    Lehman Brothers, Mumbai

    ReplyDelete

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