Hurray! IIMs in news

If there is someone who's glad about IIMs making it to the newspaper headlines, it's going to be me. I'm kind of praying everytime I go to the temple for such a thing to happen. But then, it doesn't happen so frequently, probably because I'm not frequenting temples these days.

We all know the controversy last year involving the HRD ministry and the IIMs. The issue regarding providing aid to IIMs pretty much made it to the front page of all the newspapers repeatedly for a week or so, and lot of people started saying that that was the best publicity IIMs ever got. It was quite true since I myself spoke about my admission to one of my old relative who said "Oh, that college that comes in the paper?". Trust me, I was glad. And 'glad' is an understatement of the century. For once, one of my relative recognized my college.

Recognition of my college was always a trouble for me. The whole thing started from my Engineering college days. I got into Govt. College of Technology, which was arbitrarily rated - by students - as fourth in TN, letting aside IIT Chennai. Whenever I speak about my college, my relatives always ask me why I "didn't get a seat" in Anna University or PSG or CIT. It was a nightmare to tell them that I got a Mechanical Engg. seat in Anna, an Electrical seat in PSG but I wanted Electronics. And the other college was rated below. But my college, being an institution run by the Government, was simply not as famous as the private ones, for reasons we all know. Oh how I used to wish I got into a 'famous' college!

A similar thing started to haunt me again, after I got into IIM-I. I met a relatively young and well educated relative of mine who was working in a public company. I told him I'm going to IIM, which is at Indore. The word 'Indore' confused him a lot. After figuring that it was in some remote 'Hindi speaking' area called Madhya Pradesh, he asked me whether it was safe to study there. "Train journeys, language issues" were abound, he told me. Worst was when he asked me why I didn't get an MBA seat in famous local colleges - PSG or Amrita. I said I didn't apply. He said I must've tried, and that I would've got a seat since he remembers me as an intelligent student - judged by the fact that I got a centum in Maths in standard XII. I was in no mood to convince him that centum is Maths is no reason to call a person intelligent since a frigging 1000 people get it every year. The conversation didn't end there. It was a shocker for him when I told him I left my 'high paying' job in a famous 'multinational' 'software' company.

There are times - when I meet people from B-school circles etc - I really don't regret my decision. But there are more times when common people don't recognize my 'institution of excellence'. Not that it really matters, but still: Sigh! It's a different thing that publicity is bullshit and IITs and IIMs are the last institutions that need them, but, like a child, I sincerely wish they are 'somewhat famous' - atleast to the level at which my relatives don't look down upon me!

I was reminded of the whole thing when I came across this news item. Somewhere in the corner of my mind, I hope HRD ministry does some goof up or it takes some clownish decision, and that makes it to papers all around. It would be even better if it happens just before my vacation, since recall rate would be high ;-) [Ok guys, don't throw tantrums on me. I'm simply tired of being looked upon as a loser!]