Arindam Chaudhuri, for once, makes some sense

If you read the news carefully on a daily basis, then more often than not, you'll see a huge ad, boldly telling you to "dare to think beyond the IIMs." Which of course, is nonsense if your search is limited to India. For the uninitiated, the ad is for The Indian Institute of Planning and Management. This institute is managed by Arindam Chaudhuri, whose name besides being quite a mouthful, is well known inside management circles. He describes himself as thus:

Noted economist & management guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri is an eminent author, an authoritative speaker & a transformational leader. He has been conferred upon with ‘Management Guru 2000’ award, ‘Personality of the Decade’ award, ‘Example to Youth’ award & many more... He also happens to be a film maker.

Excellent profile, except that the institute he manages is, as I personally feel, crap. And so are his writings. The English he uses is nice, but I don't feel the same about the content. But, for once in his life, he has made some sense. Here's a piece of his writing as it appeared in an ad in today's (10th July, 2008) Times of India:

The ad again begins with the laughable title "Dare to think beyond the IITs!" This caught my interest, as I, now, happen to be an IITian. Here's what the pony tailed guy wrote:

"One of the biggest problems facing the India Education system is the lack of clarity amongst students in India, which leads to a humongous wastage of our nation's resources. Bowing down to unnecessary family pressures, students in India mostly don't try to think what they want in life. Thus, for example a major trend is to mindlessly start preparations for IIT entrance examinations, often as early as in class IXth at the cost of undertaking other productive activities; in fact activities around which they could have actually built their passions. Resultantly, two categories of students emerge. one, who don't make it to the IITs, and think it's almost the end of the world for them though nothing can be more ridiculous than that. And second, those who get through! This second category is a more interesting case study of the magnanimous wastage of the country's resources. Every IIT student's education is subsidised by lacs of rupees by the state with an obvious hope that they, being engineering resources, will give back to their nation their engineering prowess. However, a huge proportion o them are later found taking admissions in various MBA courses around the globe. Nothing can be more unfortunate and a bigger waste of the nation's resources. The apparent justification is that engineering and MBA make a better combination. Nothing can be a bigger myth or further away from truth. By the time students pass out of an MBA course, in any case, they don't remember much of what they learnt in engineering; and their typical post-MBA career preferences like investment banking, human resources, etc. clearly reveal that after being exposed to the dynamic and glamorous world of management education, rarely does a student ever want a career that has anything to do with his past engineering education.

I advise all students to follow their passions and to do what they will enjoy doing and 'want to do in life.' If your ultimate aim is to study management, then plan early, save a few important years of life, enjoy life more and in the process help the nation save on some of its important resources!! Be brave, BE FREE OF ANY COMPLEXES, think ahead and get the education that you will enjoy... because success comes to those who chase their passions... passionately!!!"

Arindam Chaudhari, author of the best seller
'The Great Indian Dream'

Now, this post smacks the stupidity and bashfulness that only He, the great Arindam Chaudhari, is capable of. I could rag at him endlessly for the absurd things he has written, like "they being engineering resources" (they are people, not resources, you insensitive management fellow!) and "glamorous dynamic world of management' (Ha ha, very funny. Glamorous? You mean Page 3? Sure, your ponytail is quite fashionable! And dynamic? Huh, and I thought technology is ever changing, while management is still run on the old-school principles). But I digress. Beneath all the rubbish, there is a fleck of gold. The man has raised a point which was on my mind too, which is weird since I absolutely hate him. But this time, he's said what I've always wanted to say. Too many students have I seen who are studying for engineering, IIT; have succeeded too, but still have no idea why they are doing so. Their choice of courses are even more disturbing. There has been a gold rush lately for Computer Science seats - merely because it's a "high-paying occupation in demand." Absolutely crap. The software industry is in a decline due to lack of new avenues. Due to the recession, venture capital has dried up and no new start-ups are to be seen. The start-ups of the past have failed to deliver. Take Facebook, Google, etc. (Yeah, Google is going to sink badly since it's only major source of income is ads, which is bad when you're in a recession) And most students have no idea about what they are taking, it's just the "scope and starting salary" that is on every body's mind. Today, few people take up engineering for their passion or interest. Which is a sad state really. And then they realize that this isn't what they wanted and go to the IIMs or something similar and take up a management-based career, resulting in a waste of an IIT seat and much of the nation's resources. My plea to all those students out there who are planning to join IIT: Stop and think about what you really want; what you would really enjoy doing as a profession. Don't worry about the money or scope. All professions are equal in this world. If you're doing what you really like, then the passion will be automatically reflected in your work and people will reward you for that.

P.S.: That article by Arindam Chaudhari had no copyright sign on it, so I copied it verbatim from the newspaper. I wouldn't dare to claim something as hideous as that as my own; doing so is far beneath my dignity!