Not Cool by any Standard!

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What is life according to us (synonym is market)
1. Earning lots of money.
2. Wearing designer dresses and possessing designer accessories
3. Having latest gadgets at home and in our pocket
4. Fine eating and dining experiences
5. Visiting hip and happening places
6. Having designer holidays
7. Children and wife should match the interior decor of your drawing room. Rather they too should look like an extension of your designer drawing room.

Then why this imbecile person is doing things akin to suicide? AnIIM topper as veg vendor? Earlier too I had written about a member of the same ilk . He too was an IIM-Ahmadabad graduate and wanted to do something in the field of primary education.

I tried very hard for the past two days to find a link about this person, Kaushledra, an IIM-Ahmadabad graduate ( Read India’s Harvard). Correction, He is not a mere graduate but topper at IIM-Ahmadabad. He might have been offered 50 lakhs/annum as salary and soon be earning in crores/annum as some hifi executive sitting in his air conditioned chamber. BUT he is selling vegetables on a thela in the sweltering heat of Patna. I listened to him in an interview saying that he didn’t want to earn crores. But his career aim is MERELY TO IMPROVE THE LIVING STANDARD OF FEW LAKHS PEOPLE and subsequently their families! And even the foolish professors of IIM-Ahmadabad are proud of him. But as I have already said he is not a cool guy, so for two days I couldn’t find any information about him on net. But it seems it’s cool to publish at least something about uncool guys.

A topper from one of India’s finest B-school has turned into a vegetable vendor, but of course there is more here than that meets the eye.

After being at the top of his management class at IIM – Ahmedabad, Kaushlendra should have been sitting in an air conditioned cabin pulling a hefty salary at a multi-national company. Instead, he stands in the sweltering heat of Patna – selling vegetables.

Kaushlendra reacts to his profession says, “Every one seems to be migrating from here, I wanted to do something for my people.”

Bravo Kaushlendra! It takes exemplary courage to stay away from herd mentality and chalk out your own path. Your parents should be saluted for adding such a valuable member to our society. People like you make this world a better place to live.You have already found so many followers. “Log sath aate gaye aur karavan banta gaya” will not remain a beautiful line for you.

Comments

13 responses to “Not Cool by any Standard!”

6/24/2008

Pramod Khilery

It is not about what he is doing now, it is all about what he has seen doing him a few years from now. The aim with which he has set about taking such an unusual step will have to bow before him.It takes loads of courage and no holds barred attitude to be able to do something that doesn’t fit with normal course of path. I hope his this act will go a long way in mitigating-atleast to some extent-the money obsession, the only cause behind the frantic study routines of most students. It is not that he will not make money but what is ascertained is he will not make ‘only money’.
6/24/2008

Paradox

Though it just sounds like a story of a man who dared to follow his dreams, there is another associated part to it; the innovation and the planning – the air-conditioned cart, the tie-up with hundreds of farmers, the assurance of purity/freshness and reasonable pricing.

Ahem..is there a gender bias in the beginning of your article when you mention, ‘Children and wife’ should match….? Why not ‘Children and husband…’? :o) Both sexes want trophies. 😀
6/25/2008

Kaushlendra – the power of one | Writing Cave

[…] Alka says on her blog that it is uncool to talk about uncool people and here I am adding another drop to this uncoolness. […]
6/26/2008

Ritu

Kudos to the guy…truly… Its not just a great step but also a genius of imagination to take on Retail giants…. Hats offf to him!!
6/26/2008

Prem Piyush

Picking foreign inspired technologies of weighing machine and AC powers, and using his desi gyan , Kaushal is smart enough to sell to the largest mass. Its not charity, he is doing – but a very smart move for Mega-Micro business.
6/27/2008

Alka

Pramod, welcome. I agree with you. Its so comforting to take the beaten path and live a so called “normal” life.

Paradox, you are right. He he using his management skill in selling vegetables too. And when I have written children and wife that means conditioning. In general life we almost always use, “man” can do anything, “HE” who dares to dream… a common “man”…

Ritu, thank you. Hope you can do a story on him, meeting him personally and getting it published in your newspaper. 🙂
6/27/2008

Alka

Prem, doing charity means giving crutches to a disabled person. He is trying to make them walk on their own. Its better than charity. And in this process if he become a billionaire, well and good.
6/28/2008

Destination Infinity

Since he is an IIM topper, he might be able to get away with it. If we (meaning guys like me) do it, my parents would make me perfect examples to the neibhourhood – “This is why your son should study properly. Otherwise, he would become like mine!”

Jokes apart, how was he able to convince the parents, relatives, friends and the never ending vicious cirlce of well wishers? It really takes guts to do this!

Destination Infinity.
7/5/2008

Ashish Mishra

Yes its very hard to take the path untrodded i have tried it its very hard , myself growing up as an NRI it was very hard & unnerving to continue with life in Bihar…..
………………when it was at its worst in 1996-2004….
when with every passing day u see ur neighbour,friend&relative migrate say reloacte or better said shft in local dialect to Delhi,Banglore,Pune,Kolkata.

I am still trying but its has taken a toll on time health & money its challenging but the other sides re more lucrative & rewarding.Kuasheldra has a IIM tag with him which will take him a long way, he is learning sales techniques from this excercise,but if he really does something like start up a company in bihar is yet to be seen ……..
8/11/2008

Rahul

ok, strange… But how will he improve the life of other Indians by selling vegetables? He could have done much more by joining industry and then starting from there… when he had power to do much more… See the example of Sudha Murthy, I am her fan…
8/31/2008

Anupama

what do u know about sudha Murthy! She was equally talented but chose to stay in background. What difference c has made. I feel C spoilt her talent in hands of her MCP husband
5/19/2009

Power Kite Guy

Great information and thanks for sharing.
I’m going to bookmark this page so I can return and keep reading. Thanks
9/26/2009

Stacy

Sometimes u need to be strict with children, but that doesnt mean you should hit them. Being strict and hitting children are two different things. What hitting does is makes the child more stubborn. Many a times, we hit a child not coz of his fault but coz we are frustrated about something else in our life. That is very unfair. Would we have liked something similar to be done to us when we were a child? Even if we have gone through it in our childhood, it does not give us any reason to do the same to the little budding flowers. Keep calm, give them love and they will be just fine and listen to you even more.