Totla comes from Aurangabad. He was a second ranker in the IIT-JEE, 2008
His is a modern-day success story.
A gold medal in the International
Physics Olympiad, a second rank in the national level IIT-JEE (Indian Institute
of Technology Joint Entrance Exam) and now, an enviable job with Google Inc., with
a fat salary.
Meet Nishant Totla, from IIT-B's BTech department. Totla has been offered the position
of software engineer at Google's North America office, with a pay package of around
$100K (approximately
52 lakh) per annum. Placement season at the Indian Institute of Technology brings
with it a great deal of nervousness. But for Totla, the tension was over on Day
One of the placements. "I was sure about getting a job. But the Google offer was
a complete surprise for me." Google was his second preference, since he thought
the company would offer him a job in its India office.
The only son of a doctor couple, Totla comes from Aurangabad. He was a second ranker
in the IIT-JEE, 2008. He says, "Back then the competition was too much. There were
lakhs of students struggling to get into IIT. Now, though the competition in terms
of the number of people is less, everybody is smart."
"My parents always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted. My love for mathematics
brought me here today," says Totla. He, however, has no plans to do an MBA, unlike
IITians who choose management after a degree in technical education. His interests
lie in abstract mathematics, and in developing games. He also dons other caps at
different times: he is a guitarist, a graphic artist and a writer.
"Though I love mathematics, I do not want to keep solving problems all the time.
I play guitar or keyboard, write or sketch my own comics." Having learnt these instruments
in school, Totla has continued honing his skills, participating in different cultural
events at IIT-B. He also writes on current events, and strongly disagrees with the
UPA government's stand to censor social networking websites. "Freedom of speech
will be lost in a democratic nation," he opines. "And while censoring some anti-social
elements, genuine criticism will suffer." Totla has his own blog for which he writes
extensively. He has also put up some of his comic strips there, which reveal "a
geek's perception of life."
Courtesy: DNA India
