My admiration for the IITs does not have to do with the geeks entering these exclusive institutions . I remember the first time I walked into an IIT – it was for getting the XAT application form inside the SBI branch in IIT Chennai . I got the 2 bucks ticket and took the bus inside thinking “wow, these guys have a bus to commute inside, now how large exactly is this place?”
It is an understatement to call the experience “love at first sight” - the huge banyan trees, thickets, neatly paved roads, the small apartment buildings amidst the trees, the cute schools inside, the massive study buildings and libraries, the charming deer roaming around.. (spotting even a cow in Chennai is rarity). My small eyes literally popped out in excitement - it was lush green and cool and silent and fresh and felt I could kill to live in that place.. I chose not to take bus while coming back and walked all the way, wondering if I was still in Chennai. I went back and asked my friends at workplace if I could rent an apartment there somehow – the answer I got “naah.. you would have to either study there or “correct” a prof who works there” . Too bad, I knew that won’t happen. { I was never a techie at heart even though I have the “Engineer” degree and worse, marrying one! – not exactly my kind of plan}
Cut to Sep 2011, a usual ride back in traffic from office after buying bananas from the regular “pazhakaara anna” , when I get this call from Vishnu at the National Entrepreneurship Network who says “ There’s this course in Mumbai on Venture Capital and Angel Investments , would you like to attend? “ . How could I even refuse – my previous trips to Mumbai for NEN and CBFW conferences had been wonderful experiences to say the least.
My parents are quite apprehensive of my lone trips to Mumbai - my dad typically goes like this over the phone - “make sure you have someone known from Chennai coming with you , call me when you reach the airport, call me when you land, when you get off the tarmac, when you reach your place safely …” Going alone is in fact the best part of these trips – I don’t know the place, my hindi is just about enough to manage and I don’t have anyone to tell me what I should be doing – that’s the best part, that I don’t know what to do.. It has always paid off – meeting such characters among strangers, listening to nice talks, sharing ideas and stories, meeting people across age categories, different food and air, travel, airport lounge chats, shopping for books around the airport – not knowing what lies ahead and finding a way through it is as exciting as it gets, even if it is a visit to Mumbai and not a rain-forest adventure.
So, I fervently said yes to Vishnu - the course on Venture Capital, Angel Investing and Debt would be handled by Prof. John Mullins from the London Business School. I had heard a lot about his “Getting to Plan B” even though I had not read the book before. If he is going to teach me understand raising capital and the venue is IIT Mumbai, there was no missing the chance.
I landed in Mumbai – my first overnight stay visit to the city and I had this constant feeling inside me that a great three days lay ahead of me.. I also waited to see if IIT Mumbai was better than Chennai's ...
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