Just Yesterday. And is IIT really (i)it?

Time can't be felt. It can only be realised. Just yesterday, I was done with school. Just yesterday, I saw some of the people in my grade for perhaps the last time in my life. Just yesterday I stepped into the adventure called college. And only yesterday did I realise eleventh and twelfth grade wasn't much of an adventure at all.

It seems as though everything happened just yesterday. The day I found out I was having a sister and the joy I felt while I jumped on my not-so-bouncy bed, the moment I gave my best friend a hug in the US after she gave me two books as a farewell gift (which I still have!), the day that I came back to India for good and my whole family was waiting at the airport. The day when I entered the place I'd call school for the next eight years and grow to love, winning as a school and the ten day tour; the day I drank a pint of courage before entering junior college and began conversations with random people, most often with my signature handshake. The memories are still fresh and alive, spiraling in my head, tickling me and making me laugh and reminisce. It's as if the perfect pictures locked inside your brain that has captured photographic moments are attached to springs. When the springs expand, you see it all happening again like a film and relive it. When the spring contracts, it gets hidden somewhere deep inside only to come out again after some stipulated time to continue it's pendulum like motion.

You always thought school was an 'end' in some way. Looking back, you realise it was in fact merely a trailer. Now the movie's about to start and hence the beginning.

Wherever you go, you hear people talk about university. Everyone is making a "big decision" that's supposed to affect the rest of their life. Most of my college friends want to get into IIT. But is it really worth it? Because of how our education system works, science students wanting to get into a prestegious engineering college are expected to do nothing but study. Forget expectations - if they don't study enough, they definitely won't get into their dream college. But aren't these two years important for overall development too? What happens to that? What happens when you realise that you've forgotten how to ask questions? When you've feel like you've lost interest in studying because these two years was just too much? The only reason I'm asking these questions is because many of my professors were in the same situation. (That's what it sounds like from the way they talk.) They claim to have enjoyed mercilessly for four years. Isn't that defying the purpose of doing engineering in the first place?

I think a college having a brand name matters in only one way - it just makes getting a job easier. It's like buying the new Apple phone just because it's Apple. Buying it just for the status it gives you, instaed of considering other options and doing enough research. (IIT resembles Apple in this case.) In reality, you weave your own story. All successful people weren't from known universities. But they all did what they loved, and they did that to the best of their ability. And I think that's where India is holding back. Some IITians become nuclear physicists and ponder about saving or destroying the world, some work in the field of nanotechnology and make robots smaller than those that can be seen with the naked eye...and others? They teach kids in coaching classes and write books.

I'm not implying writing books or teaching is a bad or relatively lowly profession. I love writing and think teachers deserve all the respect we can give. I'm just questioning out loud why some people think it's becoming necessary to do IIT (if you're pursuing further studies in India) for success. And why, to an extent, that's becoming remotely true too.

Views and opinions are, as always, welcome. Thanks for reading!
Kanksha :)
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