Fresh Egoist Soul?

HAH!!...how true is Dilbert most of the time, esp. his sardonic humour on consultants, people from management, and this time the IITias...innumberable times at work, I have heard this from fresh passouts "I am an young IITian and hence better than you"... infinite number of times I hear from recruiters, "oh, an IITian - an intelligent and matured soul"...I did have the "honour" of working with some "intelligent, matured souls of India" who took immense pride to be alma-mater of one of the IITs in India, even if they are a master's in Geology, and now sitting in IT industry and "pretending" to understand the different facets of business.

It is definitely a matter of pride to be a part of India's cream engineering institute, it does take a lot of pain to get there, esp. given the amount of reservations that our government has introduced into the Indian education system. Also as years pass-by, people appearing for this entrance exams are innumerable but the number of seats never increased proportionately. This year 3.2 lakh aspirant candidates competed for six thousand graduate engg. seats for 7 IITs...the competition is tough and if you crack it, the joy is unbound.

But why this superiority complex, why this audacity to prove that nothing can ever be better than them, why this intense pleasure in scorning down at everybody around, it is a puzzle for me. Seems some type of a self delusion! Does India's cream institute teach students to nurture this? Perhaps not, never! Education brings humbleness, the least education teaches you is tolerance!

After quite an introspection, after observing people, parents, peers, I feel it is the society to blame at large, the aura that we create in the mind of a small child, the expectation that we rise in an innocent heart to excel and reach the best..and after he qualifies, the adulation that is given to him by his family and friends by the mere mention "mera beta/beti IIT mei par raha hain", all of a sudden the child is treated with much more admiration, respect, and seated at a pedestal much above the rest. And if you are from a small town from Bihar or UP, the very mention can qualify you for a magnanimous sum of dowry....and perhaps the birth to this feeling of "supreme"!
It is not that I shun IITians, some of my closest friends are from IITs, people from my immediate and distant family members constitute a part of this alma-mater, my professional and personal mentors belong of this group. I have met many, who are oblivious of this supreme feeling, but here I write to bring out the general feeling among the pupils who are fresh products of IITs.
It pains me when I see them, such an im-matured pudding headed behaviour from a young turks of one of the cream institutes of India! IITians have succeeded, conquered the world, have reached to different heights, by really working hard, proving their merits and by the sweat of their brow. Hard work and right education can make a man successful! Rise, see beyond, life is self realization, a few certificates, donot make you a man! The society adulations are time being, there is much more to learn beyond the text books...be humane! AMEN!!!