I am lucky to have parents who never pushed me about IITs.In fact when my own relatives argued against joining BITS(I had a 3600 rank in JEE 2006) , it was my mother who clearly told them to back off.
I fully understand your feelings.I too was never interested in BITS , mainly becuase I had no clue about BITS.its only after coming I realized why BITS is one of the best. i too was brain-washed into believing that there was nothing that came close to the IITs. Its sad that there is so much hype for 1 set of instis , while others(BITS , NITs etc) are all made to seem irrelevant. Look , the media plays the hype cuz it makes huge amount of money thru advertising. Frankly even this forum does the same thing(But I don't blame its creators)
All I can say is that as enlightened citizens , strive to find the truth.Uncover details about things which you know little about.