Indian-origin MBA student Anaheez Patel breaks silence after viral clash with billionaire Nikhil Kamath: ‘I grew up with privileges…’
The Indian-origin MBA student who went viral for asking questions to Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has now spoken out, saying her views on education are shaped by both privilege and lived experience.Anahis Patel addressed the backlash and praise in a detailed LinkedIn post three days after his conversation with Kamath at the India Business Conference sparked a nationwide debate on the value of business degrees.During the event, Patel directly challenged Kamath on his previous comments criticizing MBA programs. “A few months ago, you said that if you are 25 and doing an MBA, you must be some kind of idiot,” he said, questioning the contradiction of such a statement being made at a business school gathering. This moment went viral.Drawing attention, Patel described growing up in a family where education was central. His father is a marine engineer, his mother is a teacher and his sister is a pediatrician. He said that the focus on academics, along with a packed schedule of extra-curricular activities such as debate, drama, music and academic competitions, was “non-negotiable”.She addressed assumptions about her background, writing, “I grew up with a certain degree of privilege, nothing extreme.” He said access to knowledge defined his upbringing. “Books were never in question,” he said, noting that family vacations also often included museums and learning experiences. He described himself as “very rich in this sense”.Patel also shared a personal example to explain his belief in education. His family supported his domestic help in educating his daughters, one of whom is now an MBA and has moved on to a better life. She wrote, “So when I talk about education, it is not in abstraction. I have seen firsthand what it can do.”He defended his decision to question the billionaire. “I have a backbone and I believe in using it,” she wrote. He criticized “intellectual humility”; Patel argued that avoiding disagreement does not improve ideas.He credits his upbringing for encouraging open dialogue at home, saying, “Respectful (read that again, respectful) disagreement, when based on logic, leads to better thinking.”
