‌Unconditional‌ ‌family‌ ‌support.

“Beta, himmat mat harna, Main tere saath khada hu!”

This was my father motivating me when I was not performing well in KOTA. He was the one who never gave up on me.

Coming from a lower-middle-class marwadi background, my father never really pushed me into joining his business. My mother is a government teacher and she always understood the value of having a good education background. PCM was an obvious choice in 11th and IIT was a buzzword back then and frankly speaking, it was all because of the newspapers (laptops & smartphones were not a thing then) I got to know about what it takes to get into IITs- the prestigious engineering brand of India.

I started preparing myself mentally for going to KOTA from class 9th. Back in 2006, only a few dared to even think about going to KOTA but I started researching about the rigorous regime of Bansal Classes and reached out many students who were already there in KOTA. I entered a world where lakhs of students were pouring into the city just to compete for a handful of seats in IITs, there was a sudden culture change. I was a first-class student throughout, and I admit I was a bit arrogant about it as well. But one of the best things that KOTA did to me was it made me humble. Suddenly, you were not the best in your class, every student had an answer to the daily practice problems (DPPs), you were not the HERO of the class anymore!

Making‌ ‌into‌ ‌IIT‌ ‌Roorkee.

Kota does not give you some magic trick rather it makes your life more process oriented. You start following a process of studying 10-12 hours a day which you would not be able to do at your home. It gives you the atmosphere. It only depends on you whether to get influenced by good or bad company. I still remember the time when I cried my heart out in front of Bansal sir (Yes the famous Bansal sir) because I was performing badly in the tests and nothing seemed to be working out. He gave me one single advice-

“Beta, bharosa mat chodhna apne upar se. Chahe kuch bhi ho!”

The struggle didn’t go away. I was diagnosed with Jaundice just before a month of my 12th board exams. I still managed to get into top 8000 but didn’t make the cut for IITs. That was the lowest point of my teenage years. But I didn’t lose hope and with my family’s support, decided to appear for IITs again.

The third year at KOTA was kind of less stressful. I didn’t care about the result, but I knew I was doing hard-work and was true to my efforts. I got AIR-2911 in IITJEE-09 and opted Metallurgy branch of IIT Roorkee. Four years of engineering were the best days of my life. I made some lifelong friends, memories and yes, those IIT days made me who I am today!

My advice to students is to trust your instincts, experiment more and have faith. You will face so many difficulties but that is just God’s own way to push you further and bring the best in you.