A rare Gujarati muslim at IIM-A

At a time when minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid has called quota for Muslims a double-edged sword, here is a man who has defied the odds and stereotypes. Abrarali Saiyed is a rare Muslim from Gujarat to get admission to Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Muslim students in IIM-A so far have been from outside Gujarat. Saiyed has been admitted to the Fellowship Programme in Management (FPM), IIM-A's doctoral programme, after clearing CAT with high marks.
Although IIM-A can't tell from records if he is the first ever Muslim from Gujarat to make it to the institute, Justice Sachar Committee report on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India states, "There were only 63 Muslims out of 4,743 candidates that made it to various IIMs in 2004-05 and 2005-06." Saiyed comes from a middle class family - his father was a class II government officer who funded his education by giving tuitions to scores of youngsters, mainly Muslims. He used a bicycle for cover long distances between tuitions.
"I was a first class student, until my last year in engineering college in 2002," he says with a smile. "I wasn't able to attend college for four months because of the post-Godhra riots. So, my teachers downgraded me to second class." But Saiyed was undeterred. He became an academic associate with IIM-A in 2006.
IIM-A professor Rakesh Basant, who was a member of the Sachar Committee, says, "It is heartening to see that this candidate came through a rigorous selection process. The Sachar committee had found that very few Muslims clear CAT, but those who do, have an equal chance of getting admission."
Despite making it to the most prestigious management school in the country, Saiyed says he has stopped making future plans. "They never work out," he says. "I prefer to go with the tide and see where it takes me."
Read more: A rare Gujarati Muslim at IIM-A - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/A-rare-Gujarati-Muslim...