Life of top 10 JEE rankers – Should they do what they do?

Shubham Tulsiani, AIR-2 in JEE 2009, answers this question for all of us in an interesting way. He poses some question that the society raises to JEE top rankers and responds to them in a sarcastic yet real way..

1.  “If the toppers were so intelligent why they didn’t start some company and earned a lot of money?”
   Well, it is clear from your question that ‘earning money’ is the ultimate aim that someone should have according to you. However, that’s not the case for me. Research pays one well enough to lead a comfortable life. Once the basic requirements are met,  what determines how happy you are is how much you love doing whatever it is that you do for 12 hours a day and not how many cars you buy in a year.
2.  “Why do the toppers don’t try and do good to society”
   This part of the question is so valid because no researcher ever did any good to society. All the things around that you see and use is just god’s gift to humanity and researchers never played any part whatsoever in any development.
3. “Why do they not do any good to themselves?”
   This is again a very valid point, because people who pursue their interests are so not doing good for themselves by doing what they like. According to you, everyone should let their interests run down the drain and run after money, earn a lot and stay unhappy. It is only then that they will do any good to themselves.
4. “Why do they not become a professor in some not so well known university in the US?”
   Well, that’s an important area to look at that we idiots forgot – “how well known is the university to Indian public”. My brother only considered the quality of research that he’ll do at the university (TTIC has one of the strongest theory groups in the US). Regardless of the fact that he is doing rather well in his area, he’ll be devastated when I tell him that he should have considered ‘how popular the university is’ before joining, because apparently, nothing else is more important. True?

It should not surprise you that the top rankers of JEE end up having a reasonably comfortable life for themselves even though they may not be earning as much as you’d expect them to. They follow their interests which is more important for them than to be financially better off. I would appreciate if people would understand that their priorities might not be that same as theirs and people should understand and accept rather than assume that their priority order of things was the only ‘right’ one.