College Life: Reverse Gear

"Your son got 84.6 % in class X", said Mr. Gupta to my father. Mr. Gupta had both internet connection and particular interest to check the board results of the children of his colleagues. 

Once the results were out, a tsunami of free advices hit my family. The major advice was that which coaching institute in Kota to join to prepare for JEE. My parents and I didn't even know the full form of JEE and were unaware of the benefits after qualifying that. I was indeed so curious to know about that. Just after the basketball match one day, few of my school mates were discussing about the examination, which one has to qualify to enter the coaching institutes in Kota. One of them claimed that if got an admission in "Jain Classes (Famous Coaching Inst in Kota)", selection in IIT is guaranteed. Now what is IIT ? Were IIT and JEE two different things ? Later that day, I saw a big fat book in the book store, printed "A complete guide to IIT-JEE" on it . That made me so confused, it was not the time where one could google anything easily to clear the confusion and asking Mr. Gupta was also not the good choice either. 

I assumed that it was the only way to become whatever you want to become in the life. Just passing the class X, going to Kota, entering one of the institute there and finally qualifying IIT-JEE and if not qualified, then no options !! 

When I reached Kota one month prior to the entrance test of "Jain Classes", I was amazed to see the city. The city was flooded with institutes' banners, advertisements of food suppliers or messes and "TO LET" boards on every house's entrance gate. Almost every banner was full of pictures, especially of KT sir, PK sir, SM sir etc presenting something to AIR 1 candidate !!! ?? !! AIR 1 was printed on each one of them, one more short form ? One of the advertisement caught my attention which claimed "Prepare for Jain Classes, Gateway to IIT-JEE". I joined that class however failed to enter Jain Classes. 

The day when the results of Jain Classes were out, aspiring students got separated in two classes: One being studied in Jain Classes (Upper Class) and others NOT (Lower Class). Upper class candidates thought of everyone except them were good for nothing and wasting the money of their parents. I felt like I failed the last exam of my life. I didn't want to come back to my hometown and study there because it was hard for me and family to defend my return so early. It was expected for 2 years not 2 months. I joined "Rank 3" coaching institute in Kota. I didn't know where the Rank came from but one has to breathe in the air around. 

Two years passed like hell. Attending hours of lectures, solving unrealistic problems, reading dozens of uninteresting books and talking about the marks/ranks after every monthly test. I wanted to give up that "life with no charm" but defending the reason to quit it in front of society seemed far more difficult than being there with stress and trauma. 

After two years of stagnant life, I came to know 3 things: IITs (Indian Institute of Technology)are the premier technical institutes of India, JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) is the name of the exam to get into IITs and third, get into an engineering college is not a tough task either. I ended up getting into an Engineering College. I didn't know where I was heading to but indeed it was a new beginning :)