Hi Umesh:
Against my better judgement, I read your article, because mm's reply
to it made me curious. And I re-read it, because I could not quite
get it. But even after re-reading I don't get it.
What exactly were you trying to tell us? I am sure it is interesting
stuff. But what is it?
You did not get down to write it because you had nothing better to do, right?
And that IIT envy and your years of struggle to demolish it with a
Harvard degree and really bury it with time in the US, does not seem
to be working too well. Do you want to know why? I will be delighted
to help out--just let me know.
c-da
At 11:55 PM -0800 11/23/07, umesh sharma wrote:
Hi,
Just talked to one of my closest high-school time friends (in
India), another one I had talked for 2 hours yesterday . I was
responding to his voicemail on my phone which said that XYZ has left
his job!!!!!!
People continue to leave jobs in India -- but not this job!!! This
job is a job which brings not only power and prestige but also
plenty of money - even by US standards. That of an Indian Police
Service (IPS) Officer - pay is not much - maybe $1,000 per month
(like that in US embassy, DC's analyst's pay :-) ) but potential
to make much more income or help others make it - esp. those in
wine/spirits etc business or customs etc in India. I am told that
even for small positions people pay upto a $100,000 and bidding is
done for many posts. Thus, if someone leaves such a job -- it makes
for international news - international phone calls. It is still not
confirmed though.
Ofcourse, noone will call regarding strangers. This IPS has been a
close acquaintance - he never acknowledged my presence even at
Harvard (though I met his batchmates of KSG) as he did not while
we played street cricket with tennis balls - before either of
these guys got married after getting respectable jobs.
Neither of us went to IITs. Our school venerated IIT grads. One of
my immediate seniors had come second in IIT JEE entrance exam,
another came second in AIIMS exam. But not all wanted to become
doctors or engineers. Others saw the world in a different light.
Some joined family businesses. The IPS guy or myself preferred
humanities . He did his entire Indian education from Rajasthan state
only before he went to Harvard. I had studied in various states from
pre-school onwards.
MBA and Univ corruption
I had met his wife before he did at their MBA college. He was her
senior and had come to deliver talks about how he became an IPS
officer. I had met her while meeting my other friend and while
preparing groundwork for an educational supplement (with advts) on
"Management Education in Rajasthan" - an article which appeared in
Indian Express and Financial Express written by my other friend -
which nearly cost him his seat, since on my insistence he
highlighted the trend that other MBA institutes were also having
good facilities . The Vice Chancellor called angrily at my friend's
residence -demanding "How dare you?"" Ofcourse I shouldered
responsibility (not that I was ever called upon) and later the Vice
Chancellor's office was exposed by our local Indian Express
reporters (whom I had explained the situation of "How Dare you?" )
as taking big bribes while admitting students into medical grad
school (pre-PG) and I think CBI enquiry was conducted since the VC
and the then Chief Minister were quite close. They perhaps never got
round to checking claims that half the MBA students were on there on
merit - the rest on backs of their parents prestige/political-clout
or money.
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
These issues come back to me perhaps both of my classmates then
stayed right across from the above mentioned univ. in govt flats wit
their parents. My close friend's father did not get promotion for
twenty years because he neither accepted bribes nor gave any
upwards - after twenty years the govt woke up and he got rapid
promotions and came to the state capital where I met his son while I
was in ninth grade. The other classmate was from a well connected
family and his father never had to leave the state capital and only
had to deal with industrialists as part of his job. I have never
ever been inside his house - whether in India or at Harvard .
Amartya Sen's class connection etc
In India he never asked me to come in - here in US- at Harvard he
never responded to an email sent to him by his govt colleague (whom
I first met while talking to Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen in
his class) -cc marked to me. The email congratulated my schoolmate
on his son's birth at Harvard. Perhaps because of that he was too
busy to meet perhaps the only fellow from his hometown and school
there.
Maybe it was that in my reply I had mentioned my learning from a
mutual school friend (who knew where everyone was) while I was still
in India -- that he had joined both Harvard and also MBA from MIT.
Perhaps he was waiting for the right moment to break the news --once
he was done with all these programs. Now he seems to have broken the
radio silence.
IITians are geniuses??
It is interesting that perhaps having suffered (like me) that
IITians are geniuses and (others are fools) many fools like us are
seeking world class degrees - much more prestigious that IITs
themselves. Most people think that after marriage and having kids
Indians do not venture abroad. The IPS and the friend who called me
seem to think that world does not stop for non-IITians even after
marriage. Settled life is not an option in a newly globalized and
wired (internet) economy - where suddenly you can see on the other
side of the globe and look up all the campuses (literally thru
Google Hybrid map) .
So it seems IITians (including my own students) have to think of
other ways to maintain their aura of superiority and competitiveness.
Or will IITians be overtaken by those small town classmates they
left behind after high school???
Umesh
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit
<http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/environment.html>Yahoo! For
Good this month.
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