Abhishek SinhaMumbai, October 8: A post on X (formerly Twitter) by user Abhijeet Singh (@AbhijeetWH) has struck a chord by challenging a familiar media trope — the tendency to attach an “IIT” tag to every noteworthy young achiever in India.
Singh’s post responds to a headline that read: “19-year-old Mumbai boy, who once planned to crack IIT, raises ₹23 crore for his AI startup.” He questions why the story needed to mention the student’s past plans to attempt the IIT entrance exam at all. According to Singh, that framing implies the achievement is only credible because it is linked — however tangentially — to an elite institution.
The core argument is simple and sharp: India over-values institutional pedigree and often uses it as a shorthand for competence. Singh points out that many real accomplishments come from people who chose harder, less conventional routes — teaching themselves, building from scratch, and taking real risks while peers pursued “safer” paths. In his view, attaching an IIT label to someone who didn’t attend the institute diminishes the actual source of the success: the individual’s effort, resilience and work ethic.
Singh highlights the case of Dhravya, the 19-year-old founder who raised ₹23 crore for his AI venture. Dhravya did not go to IIT — and, as Singh emphasizes, he didn’t need to. He bet on himself, iterated through failures and built a product that attracted investors. Yet, Singh argues, the narrative insists on shoehorning IIT into the headline as if the institute’s stamp makes the success more believable.
The post calls out a broader cultural pattern: parents who brag about institutional affiliations, media that lean on pedigree for credibility, and a society that too readily equates worth with a brand name. Singh suggests this mindset sidelines “real builders” — those whose achievements arise from execution rather than credentials.
Singh’s message is a reminder for journalists, parents and readers to focus on the substance of accomplishment. He urges that the story we celebrate should be the builder’s journey — the risks taken, the sleepless nights, the iterations — not the nearest prestigious label. As he puts it, “IIT didn’t build him; he built himself.”
Source: This article is based on a post by X user Abhijeet Singh (@AbhijeetWH).
