Advantage of being a nerd to be successful

Yes, its a very different perspective that I present. Its something over the years that I've realized is quite true. To do a task successfully or to be good at something you need focus and dedication. Why nerds are such a big success in our society is because of that very reason. Their power of concentration or rather should I point their quality of not being distracted make the difference. Most of the things we do are not in itself difficult for anyone of us. Its just that many of us fail due to lack of concentrated effort. Either we are too smart to get down to the basics and solve the problem and put enough time in it or we are too lazy. Quality of being nerd helps in that way which helps you to behave like an obedient person and do the task in as theoretically correct as possible. The thing about being nerd is it lets you keep the negative energy and oversmartness out of the task. Most of the things require some degree of very simple basics to be performed before being overcome. Therein the nerd scores over. Just a simple thought which helps IITians doing things better till the point the feeling of IITian doesn't overwhelm them. 

IIT selection criteria changes

Lets me be straight about it. IITians are the cream of the nation. There is no doubt about it. And if you ask most of the IITians the reason for such quality out flux is that one test. The one test I surely know is toughest that I have gone through and most IITians share the same view. So when people talking about the board exams being one of the deciding factors they are asking you to choose something which can never screen talent and the quality that IIT deserves. There's a certain degree of respect that comes along with the tag IIT and make no mistake if you make those entry criterias subjective and based on exams which prosper on rote learning and depends mostly on memory retention and also can have doubtful scoring patterns be rest assured you are going to get quality dilution. There have been a lot of IITians in the past who can't boast of great scores in the board exams and take my word they have every right to be in IIT and more so than many others whom have better scores in these exams. Its a choice as a country that we make whom we give those elitist tags to. If we reward people for baseless reasons so be it. If we want to make a mockery of our image in the world because of dirty politics so be it. IIMs have already made their process quite weird with all those percentage allocations to boards and grades at college. But anyways IIM never have that global visibility as IIT to some extent has. I quite fail to understand how they have so much time to screw the processes more when in fact we as a nation have so many issues to fix. Politics at every level is the roadblock that we face. Its surprising that a man like Kapil Sibal with such impressive educational background is leading this stupid exercise. But the other way of looking at it is anyways crucial part of each individual's life and the challenge that we face day to day is politics, so lets teach the children from starting how to get used to it. Chalta hai!  

To IIT JEE students post results

Well if you are one of the those who have smiles after the JEE results congratulations. You have earned for yourself a lifetime of respect, not without a reason. Hopefully this would make you one of the better-offs in India in the future. For those who are not happy with their ranks etc take it in your stride and be happy about going to IIT. That much for those who are successful. They will not be the ones to care much about actually.
I would love to talk to or send a message to people who did not make it. First of all chill. If you had put in a lot of effort and failed my heart goes for you. But remember its just the starting of a new life. A life where success has different meanings. Trust me, if you are upset about your result now its ok but if you are concerned about your future and success in the future you will do fine. People come back and people take different paths to reach greater heights. If I were you maybe I wouldn't realize and share the thought now but as time passes it will sink in. And therein lies your chance. And to pump up your spirits, these days a good PG can overshadow your UG degree. So go out and tell your parents, relatives and friends that an IITian said its ok not to be in IIT. Instead help yourself in finding a goal which interests and inspires you and work towards it. Its not easy but that's the only way to get to what you are actually looking for. Remember you are too young to lose heart. Remember you are very young for a successful life ahead. Best of luck for your college lives. 

IIT hostels were a mess

IITs boast of housing best talents but the hostels were in a state of mess. My observation is mostly restricted to the hostels of IIT Delhi but it would not be much different for most of the other IITs. Poor infrastructure in India is justified by providing budding talents with hardships to get them ready for the hard realities of life. But the argument is far from convincing. The poor state of the toilets comes to mind. Half of them were broken and were never repaired for years even when their numbers were very less given the hygiene that should be maintained and if at all everybody had to attend the classes religiously and regularly. Its difficult for me to imagine getting back to them and I find it truly ridiculous for a world class institution to have such poor facilities and one should hope that no outsider sees them. Their cleanliness was also a very big concern. Geysers in winters were a bit hard to find on each floors. Coming to the rooms. We were not allowed to use coolers during summers and Delhi which has an extreme climate and harsh summers and winters it was difficult to stay in hostels during that time just on fans. Their congested construction and improper ventilation was also a concern. The mess was although not so bad but it wasn't up to the standards either. In totality IITs should look to concentrate on channelizing funds properly or raising fees for the matter if that is needed to end all this. Another aspect which is different but totally neglected is the medicare of students. IITs may have their medicare units but the availability of doctors and facilities is questionable leave apart their quality. So IITs definitely need to be more careful on all these aspects. 

IIT vs Harvard a session's observation

Observations from a session at IIT Delhi at which about 10-15 students from Harvard came over as part of an exchange program. The students from Harvard were presenting on their trip to IIT and India. The quality of presentation, level of inter-personal and communication skills were far superior than IITians in general could deliver. As students if we were comparing future leaders in the making it wasn't really a very pleasing experience sitting on the end I was. Very few of IITians could have matched them if at all. It was quite embarrassing when our director sir bragged about us being the best of the best of the best. The reason behind are many but the main reasons were they were being educated in a developed world, their experiences were diverse for example a girl had taught in Africa's poor territories as part of her intern and to me the quality of education imparted to them was far superior than we receive at our best institutes in India. The other important thing to notice was the flexibility they had in choosing their curriculum. They didn't have to choose a major like us in engineering at starting of their graduation. They were free to decide their electives right from the beginning, plan their schedules and come up at the end of day with the number of credits required. And thus they can choose to complete the requirements of their major and minor degrees as they go on their stint at the university. So a student who gets an entrance can explore and pursue his interests once they are exposed to all the subjects around them unlike us who choose their engineering subjects mostly due to the All India ranks that we get in JEE and that is true for any other engineering graduate in this country. Clearly we have a long way to go in terms of the flexibility we provide to our students while they are at college.The ease with which they presented themselves and their work was truly worth learning and giving importance too. Often we forget the importance of presentation and effective communication. Our education has to stress on this aspect. I would not blame completely IITs as schools also should be responsible for it. Our academicians are a disjoint set from business leaders and more often than not the professors in India lack personalities to inspire the modern generation. Students tend to learn more from teachers whom they respect. Gathering attention and arousing interest is the first step to teach subjects which sadly assumes lesser importance in Indian education system. And quite clearly it reflects in students as well unless they are groomed by industry. We are a long way behind compared to the best of the best of the best outputs that we can achieve and will require some effort to get there. 

IITians working in a backoffice

A feeling and a realization that goes in every IITian who works in a back office has to be shared for the next group of IITians coming along after us. There are trends where IITians run to in certain periods and its mostly peer pressure that drives them. I am not talking about exceptionally talented IITians but more towards the average ones. Guess there was trend of doing MS in 90s, it was jobs for a while then and then came MBA and the world of investment banks after 2005. The trend of ibanks, consultancies and analytics have ensured IITians are now working for these companies even after the financial crisis. Even though these companies have been better paymasters in the initial years and more often than not they provide good exposures before going in for an MBA but there are a list of downsides as well. IITians are not happy with the second fiddle treatment they get in these jobs. Make no mistake you are not the decision makers in these roles. You are a just better than your peers product for them who has no superior knowledge of their particular industries. Whether its US, Europe, Singapore or Hongkong it takes something to get to something in which you have a say. You are just data feeders, data manipulators or at best some strategy planners. Its lot of excel, it may be programming, it may be DBMS or at worst just punching data. Don't be fooled about it no IITian loves it and nobody enjoys such a job responsibility. Its just a rush to get to these places because they pay relatively better than the PSUs of the world and the so called Indian companies. You get definitely better workplaces to work in and professional environment but you also get no feel of the work you do, no real credit and no work satisfaction out of these jobs. Its difficult to explain to people why your degree earned such a job. It fails to please and it inexplicable in a holistic sense how exactly are you making your credentials earn you some respect which you got in your IIT days. The point is not to analyze all of them individually but important thing whether as IITians you look forward to such places. I did not for myself and definitely most IITians would not because in the long run is not beneficial. Your growth is limited beyond a point and treatment can be bad. So if you are looking at these roles just be skeptical. Better is to get higher degrees and join at better positions. I know its an individuals call but this entry is just to let you know as an IITian that you need to be skeptical about these setups and can do better to avoid them. You are made for something bigger.

Special

Felt special cracking JEE but never felt that its something one should take credit for. Cracking IIT felt good because I never thought about it how easy was it compared to thousands of students who tried probably harder than me. Now after failing consistently in many other things I know it was a gift and a blessing. Came easier to me than many other around. A fact that I can be proud of but am not so proud of, anyway. Hasn't taken me anywhere apart from the feeling of being respected and liked for it. The achievement resulted in getting an access to an institution which is supposed to impart quality education. Technology was not my type but to be fair had no idea about earlier. In effect the whole thing was nothing more than a waste of my time as well as the resources that were spent on me. Feels so guilty about using them now. I'm not alone. My guilt is reduced by the fact the systemic processes at IIT are nowhere near what they are supposed to be. IITians reading this would be saying this is going too far and thinking too much about not so important issue. Non-IITians would react probably in a different way and think how stupid and how ridiculously undeserving. Both are right and wrong. To give an access to "special" people in so called quality institutions when their motivation is confused and questionable is like building a team with players who are talented but are never part of the force that a team is build up with (Symonds comes to my mind). Society like "special" talents but there's something else that is required to make it happen. To get the output as big there's a lot of hardwork and other inputs that need to be fed in. And so it doesn't feel special about the product I am, this day. God wired me in a certain way and fortunately or unfortunately that helped me crack a very tough exam. Yes, coaching and hardwork were also a part of it but there was something inside that made it easy and has left me as a achiever and non-achiever at the same time. Its being special for something without feeling special. Its a problem of what you are blessed with and what you want to do with life. Have no qualms in admitting that some things that come naturally to me puts me off and somethings that excites me I keep failing in them. Such a shame and a confusing problem. A dilemma: To use what you have or to pursue what you want to have but will take something special. And this special is not gifted. It has to be earned. So you see that is what takes IITians to a different arena and to pursue different challenges. Its about the gift that probably they actually want from life. IIT life is about these paradoxes which is so difficult to understand and not so beautiful to live with. And trust me every person irrespective of his degree has to comprehend this story of his life to make it big. What is "special" for the world is not special for you and what's special for you is the ultimate thing that will take something special out of you anyway. The conclusion is IIT life on its own is not desirably special but its very much same as any other life in its journey towards a special one.