IIT and the Myth about brand names.

I am posting this to give solace to the millions of people who don't make it into IIT. I am going to reveal all in this post about the truth behind IIT's brand name.

People in general think that IITians are some kind of gods with insane mathematical capability and shrewdness. They think that there is nothing an IITian cant achieve. Even at work I find that most people are extremely cautious around IITians. They have this inferiority complex for no apparent reason. I don't know what causes this behavior and maybe I shall never find out. I think these people are scared that we will go on to be better than them and that there is no way they could even dream of competing with us.

Now for the truth behind the brand name :

1) It is not the people who pass the IIT JEE that make the IITs great , It is the 99% of people who don't make it that make IITs great.

A person who fails to get past the exam goes back home and tells his parents and relatives, " Damn. That exam is so tough, only a guy with an IQ of 200 or so can crack it. " If he were telling the truth, he would say something like, " I should have paid more attention in class when the teacher was teaching me calculus. I failed because I dint work hard enough and because I'm a loser and a chootiya . "
But no one likes to tell their parents that they are dumb and ruin their dreams, so they go with the "exam is too tough" explanation, which only goes on to inflate the IITians are gods view.

I think that there are a few guys in the top 500 ranks in the JEE who are truly genius . Anyone who gets a rank of over 2000 is lucky to be there and they know it too. Its a matter of 5 marks- rank 2000 to rank 5000. Most of the people are there because the fee is cheap and they want to make back the money their parents gave to the government as taxes. I know I did.

2) The alumni

The alumni of the IITs hold some of the highest leadership positions in many of the worlds largest corporations. They became leaders because they used the IIT Brand name to get ahead in the beginning their careers . Once they reached a respectable place in the company . IITs site their names to prove their own greatness. It is a vicious circle. IIT makes IITians great and then IITians make IIT great . Yeah thats the truth about the whole matter. Thats my 2 cents anyway.

3) We the IITians

When people go around boosting your ego and singing praises, do we discourage them? Do we tell them " We are like everyone else, just a bit smarter :) " ?

Nooooo

Cause the simple truth is that we like it when people sing our praises and inflate our egos. "If you want to worship me, go ahead , I'm not gonna stop you". We cant stand it if someone says something about us that is degrading and isnt true, but no man in his right mind would stop someone from praising him no matter how wrong or undeserved that praise may be.

So in my view the above three factors are what make IIT great. It is not the thousands of IITians who go abroad and become slaves to the US economy to satisfy their greed , or the thousands in IT companies back home who make it great. In fact we don't make it great at all. It is the millions who have never even seen an IITian or spoke to one, never been inside an IIT or anywhere near it, but nonetheless praise IITs and IITians. We owe our greatness to these unsung heroes and we are toooooo smart to stop them or correct them.

HAIL IIT . JAI HIND