Some 3 years ago, while i was in college, i saw this herd of people marching with this "MBA" anthem on their lips, making those who didnt want to jump on their band-wagon feel miserable. Even i was shaken n stirred, looking at this mass hysteria.
So i went to some 3-4 friends of mine (who had by that time enrolled for mba coachings) and asked the same question to al of them - " why mba ? ". The answers that they all gave can be summarized as --" Engineering and mba makes a lethal combo" ; "Because that's what everybody does after engineering";"I couldnt think of anything else ".
Astonishing as it may sound, people in india dont have a choice. Till graduation level we can enjoy flexibilities along with a decent standard of education(like iit's, rec's and lots of other colleges). But as we go hunting for P.G. colleges we dont have that much flexibilities and choices, nor is the indian system that accomodating for research people. You dont get a lucrative job ,moreover research work is pain in the ass, as we still lack the infrastructure required for a world class research centre.
For instance,during my 4 years tenure of B.tech in biotechnology, our studies were more theoretically inclined rather than research and practicals. The most advanced equipment ,that we got to lay our hands and thus became dextrous working on with was this 4 feet tall- "autoclave" ( a biotech lingo-jingo for pressure cooker). Even during our practical exams we would get done with those so trivial 'lab experiments' in a jiffy. But still there was a batch of people who were immensly in love with biotechnology and had firm faith that it will definitely make it to the mainstream, despite those hollow claims,which tipped biotech as the next boom. So the people from that faithful lot went on for their ms(us /australia/germany). But some of those faithful lot, who couldnt afford MS tried for J.N.U ,while the rest of them joined somewhere as research fellows(again honing their skills at autoclave and slide smear experiments). But the indian counterpart of that faithful lot is still struggling to carve out a niche for themselves in the biotech industry. Eventually most of them gave up under the peer pressure of financial stability,and are pursuing some short term management courses or aligning their last sem projects on terms of management/market research.
I myself, joined btech. biotech under the impression created by media ,that biotech is going to be the next boom, also i hated computers coz of the way we were taught computers during our school days, i found it immensely boring. Moreover i had no reasons to go for an MBA, as i didnt want to end up doing the same mistake again,when i decided to go for biotech.So i decided to go for an introspection as to what to do after my graduation.I went to my college library and came out with piles of these "whatever i could lay my hands on" books. For some 2-3 months i was in this indefinite while loop of 'going to the library, issuing books , having a glance , return(book) '. Finally that while() loop came to Ctrl+D(end) , as i found myself stuck with linux and that passion finally landed me with a job in the C.S. domain. But now im haunted by the thoughts of 'growth' 3 years down the line in this domain. And the only choice im hovering over right now is MBA. Though i dont have reasons strong enough to go for it right now.
So the situation is clear, its like we dont have too many options in india. We have responsibilities (financial and others) and we want to enjoy life,and for that we need a hefty pay package, which comes easily with a mba degree. So may be , in near future , i myself too will join this band-wagon of "M.B.A."(main bhi aaya).
