Viren Rasquinha has retired from Hockey to pursue management education from ISB.
I would be honest. I would not say that I follow Hockey and I cant name all 11 players that make up the Team India. Last I followed Hockey was when Dhanraj Pillai was the captain and Ashish Balal was the goalie. Apart from Viren, I remember names like Prabhjot Singh and GaganAjit Singh.
So, Viren is leaving hockey to pursue management education. I am sure it would have been a very tough decision. One side is representing country in Olympics, five minutes of fame, life time of memories and intermittent money. The other side is secure post-MBA career with a big corporate, money and ownership of businesses and power it brings.
The entire country is up in the arms because someone abused a cricket bowler and I don’t know how many these “true” Indians would even know Viren Rasquinha’s name. The bowler got prime airtime on even regional channels and Viren’s retirement did not even make it to the front page of a national daily.
I have done my MBA (arguably from the best NON-IIM institute in India) and I can vouch for the poor quality of education. The management education imparted in business schools in India does not take you anywhere. BSchools are nothing but glorified placement agencies. They dont make you leaders. They prepare you to be a part of the herd. The herd that does not know where is it going. I am not sure about Viren’s decision to leave but as they say “to each his own”.
Anyways, can continue to rant on this forever but fact of the matter is that India has lost yet another athlete to money. All the best to Viren for his career ahead and may be could teach a few “managers” a lesson or two.