I called her to wish her.

She picked up the phone and said Thanks!…but then, just a moment later, followed it up with “What’s there to celebrate?”

This is not the first time I had heard someone say this. I have retorted similarly in the past myself. I was almost in tears when I turned 30.

For the first time in my life though, I had more to offer than an awkward nod of agreement.

With 40 peeping around the corner, and grey hair peppering my crown with much less discretion, I maybe even had an answer to her question.

It went something like this.

When we are young, birthday celebration are all about commemorating the day we were born.

As we get older, arriving on the planet seems a day long lost in history. Birthdays soon become markers of aging.

The body gets weaker every year, and the mind does not relish the prospect of weakening bones and lost energy. It’s easy to feel that celebrations are out of order.

But this comes from ignoring the purpose of our life.

And the way I see it, the purpose of life is to grow.

Think about it. In this life full of impermanence, have you in true terms gained anything besides growth? Anything else that you gained through the good times and the bad times alike? Anything else that you once gained, always stayed with you, while everything else – success, fame, money, love – came and went?

Isn’t growth then the only meaning of life?

Seen in this context, how bad does the sixtieth birthday sound? How bad is it to celebrate 60 years of growth? How bad is it to celebrate a lifetime of being polished by life’s many forces?

Every year on this treadmill called earth, our eyes may lose a bit of their glint, but our soul shines brighter –  gaining perspective and getting rid of its karmic dross.

The day we came on earth isn’t important – the journey we have covered is.

And that, mom, is certainly worth celebrating.

Happy birthday!

Your son,

Shikhar Mohan

The question popped up out of the blue on my screen a couple of days back while I was browsing Quora.

Since I am watching ‘Zindagi Gulzaar Hai’ (Life is beautiful) on Netflix right now, somehow it sprang up as a potential response to this question.

Except, just like in the Pakistani show, where the life of the protagonists often fails to live up to the title of the show, life after IIM, is often more complex.

There are those who don’t get roles they want. Those who find they are anything but managers after the ‘MBA’ having landed Management Trainee profiles instead of roles imagined by most thanks to the ‘Get ready for top Management’ glow surrounding MBA courses in India. Those who regret not pursuing their passions. But lets ignore all these for a moment since such issues exist in every sphere of life.

Lets focus for a bit on the most successful lot, because I think that was the real question – how great is life for those who get what they want out of an IIM degree?

And here is where I was reminded about ‘Humorously Yours’ on TVF ( You should watch it if you haven’t).

At one point, Vipul Goyal, who is a struggling stand-up comedian, is mystified about why he is still surrounded by a thousand tensions despite finally securing a solo stand-up show – his life long dream.

Kanan Gill tells him that he would understand his situation better if he played video games. He elucidates – when you cross a level in the video game, you get a bigger gun, but that doesn’t mean the level is any easier to conquer – with the bigger gun, comes a bigger and stronger enemy since – you have leveled up”.

So even if your expectations from IIMs/ IIT/ OFQ (other fancy qualifications) are matched by reality, you still have to contend with bigger challenges that will come your way since you have leveled up. The silver lining is that they come with a number of positives.

Here are some of them:

Bigger salary with bigger EMIs – Where the education loan ends, the IIM grad worthy car loan starts. Where the car loan ends, the IIM grad worthy home loan starts. Where loans start, freedoms end.

Bigger life, but even bigger expectations – Yes you can afford a simple 1 BHK or 2 BHK on rent. But that’s not what you imagined right? Everyone has dreams of living in a villa with an A4 parked in garage. On to that Startup and funding then.

Higher Salary, Higher targets and lesser time – everything comes at a price, higher salary included. Too many of us define success by how wealthy we get. But it can also be defined by how many experiences you gather or how much time you get for self-development and family. These aspects however will usually suffer for the initial years.

More responsibilities but more office politics too – Climb the ladder, but watch out for the ‘snakes’ which didn’t care much for you till you were walking below their radar

Don’t get me wrong. This is not a contrarian response for the sake of sounding different. There is a whole world of positives good education can bring you and IIMs are no different. But IIMs are not a magic bullet which will set you for life.

Many people who go to IIMs know this. For others knowing there is a flip side to the best case scenario might be useful. Because your neighborhood uncle and aunty won’t talk about their IIM son or daughter who is busy all the time.

Browse to 4 Min 20 seconds in the video below for Kanan’s ‘gyan’ on leveling up.

About the Author – Shikhar Mohan has 15 years of corporate and startup experience. Before starting up OneYearMBA.co.in & TwoYearMBA.com, Shikhar served as Chief Marketing Officer (VP) at CommonFloor (acquired by Quickr) and Brand Head at HCL Infosystems. Shikhar writes on education in publications such as Business Standard, Smartinvestor, Indian Management, Rediff.com & is a frequent speaker at prominent B-Schools. In another lifetime, before he donned a suit (post an MBA from IIM I), he was an advertising copywriter at Mudra, FCB, Grey Worldwide and won over 10 international & national advertising awards in New York, Australia, Singapore. Connect with him on Linkedin @in.linkedin.com/in/shikharmohan

By Shikhar Mohan

You can’t escape them – online articles such as ’10 Fat Busting Secrets’ to ‘7 Ways to Save Your Marriage’ are everywhere on the web. Yes, we at OneYearMBA.co.in too are guilty of going with the trend for headlines of some of our recent articles.

So how did headlines on the internet evolve into mirror images of each other, with most of them pre-fixed with a number? What can it tell us about our buying behavior as consumers of information?

This is an attempt to decode the role numbers play in ‘selling’ us information online and why we as readers respond to such articles.

1. A number in the headline reassures readers they are going to gain something tangible

Readers want to be sure of finding the right information before clicking on an article. A headline that specifies the exact quantum of content an article offers, brings mathematical certitude to what is otherwise a hit and miss search for information on the net.

Additionally, if the number in the headline is large, say 10 or 20, a reader is being told in clear terms that there is a substantial amount of information to be had by reading the article.

2. A number in the headline suggests a finite amount of information

As opposed to finding nothing worthwhile in an article, there is also a fear among online readers of being swamped with information. Not everyone is looking for a Wikipedia length article on an issue they are facing.

A number in the headline comforts readers by saying in a subtle way, “Hey, I am not going to overload you with a thesis. I am here to tell you the key points in a crisp manner”.

3. Numbers in a headline take us back to the classroom – a place we associate with learning and accurate information  

Porter’s 5 Force model, 7 reasons behind the start of world war 1, Budha’s 4 fold path, 5 principles of the Panchsheel accord, the 7 fundamental human rights – many of the lessons we learnt in school and college were in the from of numbered lists.

Any surprise then that we associate numbered lists with authoritative information?

By using the numbered list format, online articles could be subtly invoking the classroom and signalling to us subliminally that the information we will be getting is genuine and authoritative.

Unlike print media, much of the online media has neither space limitations nor good quality editors to separate the wheat from the chaff. Consequently readers face a deluge of average content – so establishing authority is critical for an online article in order to find an audience. 

4. A number in the headline suggests that the article is comprehensive 

With so much stuff fighting for our attention today, especially once we are online (chat, Facebook, Tweets, e-mails, Instagram, YouTube…the list goes on), there is a glut of information and a paucity of time.

Headlines such ‘7 things…, 3 reasons..’ come across as the cliff notes edition to understanding an issue quickly. They suggest that what follows will be a comprehensive summary of everything one will ever need to know about a certain topic – one that interrogates a problem from all possible angles  and presents all the possible solutions. “Read this and be an instant expert”, is the unsaid promise of these headlines.

This tactic plays on the current generations FOMO (fear of missing out), its need for instant gratification and the inherent desire of most people to be experts on every topic under the sun.

5. It’s an invitation to a battle of wits

For many people who consider themselves to be experts on a certain topic, an authoritative headline could well be a challenge to a friendly and private match of ‘who knows more’.  A handy list presents a quick opportunity for many of us to test our own knowledge. This is the same reason you will find many people hooked onto quiz shows – they aren’t watching the show to learn more as much as to confirm their own status as knowledgeable individuals.

Rakesh who was inspired by the IDEA ad that showed a boy working in a bakery develop a flying robot loved the idea of solving delivery issues faced by his family business through robots. But he soon saw the limitations of the robot shown in the IDEA ad in addressing the challenge he faced everyday.

Rakesh’s father doesn’t own a bakery but instead an animal farm with over a 200 cows on their farm. The family milks cows everyday at a basic facility some distance away from the farm.

So if his dad looked at him scornfully and said “Gai aa gayi kya?” (Has the cow come?) and then followed it up with “Kya gai urd ke aayegi” (Will the cow fly and come?) it wouldn’t have worked out well for Rakesh if a robot with eggs would have flown in.

That’s when Rakesh decided to develop a Cow Copter. It doesn’t talk yet but the cow moos during flight which has been successful in producing a glow of pride on his father’s face almost 98% as bright as the one we saw on the face of the dad in the IDEA ad. 

Now aMOOzon.com has decided to hire rakesh to build them an entire army of flying cow copters – given that almost 50% of India is still living in villages and depends on agriculture, aMOOzon sees home delivery of cows as a major opportunity.

How Rakesh went about building the Cow Copter is a story of extreme courage and hardwork. His father could well afford electricity and the village gets power 24×7 but just to prove a point Rakesh studied on a backlit phone screen under a streetlight. Oh the misery.

Rakesh started his study by researching all the latest technologies on his phone such as quantum cow dynamics and techniques on how to make the cows aerodynamic during flight – because while eggs have very little aero resistance, cows have a significantly higher drag coefficient.

He started by studying old soviet research that preceded the launch of sputnik – many Russian scientists had then favoured sending a cow into space instead of a dog. The vehicle they had in mind informed many of the design decisions rakesh took.

Rakesh also felt that he must learn management skills to make sure the cows behave in flight and read about theories such as Group think, Porters Five forces, and BCG matrix – but he soon realised this was bigger bull than the one he was hoping to get airborne and decided to take a break with a Bieber song.

Now Rakesh is  a happy man with a happy dad and happy flying cows – all thanks to IIN.  When asked what’s the one message he can give to our readers that can inspire them he said “IIN is an excellent tool and can help anyone pick up any lesson he wants anytime, anywhere. Infact the download speeds are so good, sometimes you get the lesson long before its due. These lessons often come with a free attachment which when opened say April Fools day!”

– Shikhar Mohan, Founder, OneYearMBA.co.in