Surely, I must be crazy? Plans for the year.

Yesterday, I was addressing a dilemma of mine- as an individual you will want to carve a niche for yourself where you will be among the best - but if that niche turns out to be one that was created solely for money - you'll never be among the best - No matter what you earn, there'll always be guys who will have more money.
And when you look back at the road behind, with all those bags of money in your cart under your ass, you will see a lot more people behind perched higher - thanks to more bags of money under their respective arses.
Hypocrisy was not what I was I was addressing, it was more about the dilemma on whether I should do as the world does. So after all that writing, I might be the biggest hypocrite ever if I solely write and eke my way into one of those Inv. banks or consulting firms.
My current line of thinking - I am going to give that side of me,which thinks I can make a change- by returning to India and spending a year in the villages or with Lok Satta, a real big chance - to see for myself if a change can actually occur - If I give up on account of inability or cynicism or simply parental pressure - I'll just do as the world does, make money.
Either by deferring my offer at LSE - if they agree to it or else I'll make it into one of those money spinners of our times -the IIMs. Since it's only a matter of money - all this stuff about quality education, intellectual schools of thought might as well go down the drain.- and so will my criticism of the IIMs,
So I am currently building up ground for parental counseling - to help them weather the shock - they are the ones who'll tell the relatives that their eldest son came back to work for an NGO or to see the villages after spending three months in London and an IIT degree.
So i guess they don't get any crazier than this - But an year knowing my country should help -even if it still led to a career whose only milestones might be - no of houseplots in Jubilee hills, merc cars, vice president this, president that etc.

I guess I can give an year to what I think is right.and an year with an NGO or some enterprising activity will do me no harm - it's in these days -volunteering -it'll also help you get into the B schools easily from what I hear!

Sounds downright crazy, I guess. But I hope to find out after a year if it was. and be crazier than ever before when it comes to accummulating money this time on.

At Buckingham Palace 

At home in Clapton, London. 

The World can't be wrong

The Whole World Can’t Be Wrong?

Even as I started patting myself on the back for taking a decision few people would have made- let me offer some food for thought for people still living in places saner than where I do.
It's tough to accept, but wherever I go, people seem to have the same goal, irrelevant of how historically magnificent your institution is, or how many times people sitting in the same classrooms as you are, have changed the world. From MIT to LSE to IIM A to IITM, it's the same thing - make money - as much as you can in as little time as you can!
Well, everybody's doing it - so it can't be wrong, can it? There however, seems to be much wrong with this world, we can see it on the streets especially in India- Too many people living in poverty, poor primary education, poor public healthcare to cite some. But people in the best schools around the world are doing all that they can do - well, only for themselves however.
I must say all that intellectual school of thought, that I thought I would be a part of, at LSE - is a myth. I can make money, if I can get into an investment bank, there are hordes of them here and offer lots of pay.
LSE's historically been closer to labour - more inclined towards the left - but all it's grads look up to making their careers in the consulting firms and the investment banks and it's director is an honorary member on the board of Morgan Stanley and is a former McKinsey partner.
That's as paradoxical as LSE is today. It's no different at MIT or Harvard either. These are the places people want to get into in the US as well. Ask anybody there and when somebody says he's interested in B-School, you would be wise If you heard, " I want to make some money in the inv banks and consulting firms"
Irrespective of whether you study at LSE or IIM A or elsewhere, it's only the surroundings that differ - a majority want to work at one place-where they hand more bags of money. But my biggest problem with money is that, no matter how much I get of it - there's going to be a guy who'll come along waving all his bags of money - which I can only envy about.
So when there are all these problems, i.e the ones in public health etc around, why is no one working on them? - except those miserable chaps from those govt degree colleges -who well, also do it for money, but do it badly.
Now that's everybody doing stuff for money - you can get away by doing the same thing, albeit masking it with your research in quasi-atomic circulations in sub pelvic magnetic regions, which you so apparently 'love'.
So if you ever wanted to do something different as I am forced to by something inexplicable and out of my control -You risk being a fool and you are not going to be the talking point of living room discussions, nobody's going to say- "IIT chadivaadu, USA vellaadu, Car, Bungalow konnaadu, pedda garage anta, pillalu erraga englishlone maatladuthaaru, asalu ikkada dummu, matti padavu, otti bisleri neelle thaguthaaru ...."
Instead all that they are going to say is " emo nandi, edo chesthoovuntaadu, edo oka illu konnattunnaadu, antha sampadichadandi.."
Well, people, I mean all of you in places where reality can still touch you -It's upto you to decide what you want to do.
And I don't want to be a hypocrite either, I prefer the dust and the grime there.
Let me end with what an IITB CS guy said in an interview to rediff - " IITians must work to set up world-class companies in India" - He took up a job at McKinsey, as Indian as McDonalds is. Let’s hope he does something better later in life.