It was the third day of my father fighting with the government officials to let us fill the application for my admission in Maharashtra state colleges for engineering. There were some technical issues. My father was adamant and frustrated, but so was the staff.
In all that chaos, my father's phone rang. It was mom. His expressions changed from annoyed to smiling to euphoric. He turned to the lead officer there, pointing towards me he exclaimed ''Congratulate him. He got into IIT!" Then he proceeded to wipe his tears. All the hardwork, the sacrifices had some meaning now.
Wait! Thats the ending of my story! The story starts four years earlier. Our protagonist's mom saw the full page FIITJEE advertise about IIT-JEE in a Marathi newspaper. it was around August-Sept of my 8th class in 2010.
Naturally, like many other countless extra exams I gave, we applied for FIITJEE Talent Reward Exam. Pretty casually.
On the exam day in December, we drove to the nearest centre city, gave the exam, returned and then forgot about it. It was not a big deal.
Untill one day, a heavy package arrived at home. It was the 'COMPREHENSEVE' result. And they had offered 75 % scholarship discount if I joined. After some research around, we got serious.
My parents travelled overnight and visited the FIITJEE school in Hyderabad. Twice.
This Period in our journey was the First 'CRITICAL POINT'. A decision had to be made. For me and my parents. Whether or not to send their 13 year old kid so far away, where they can not see/monitor his activitiesd day to day. so many
questions,
Will he be able to cope with the syllabus?
How will the friends be?
How will the food be?
What if he falls sick?
Will he be safe there?
What if he goes with bad
influence and starts addictions?
On the other side, there was the dream of the IIT.
There was no one to ask. We were the first one from my town to have faced the dilemma. It was not easy. After a lot of thought, in the end it was decided that we would take the chance.
Fortunately, the decision turned out to be more that right. It was pivotal not just for my career but also for my personality, maturity, exposure etc. I owe a lot to that decision.
And YOU would not be here reading this if it were not for that decision.
There were many more critical points in our journey to IIT. where the choices could make or brake things. I am very grateful to the very few people who wore there to light my path & guide me. But there were not that many.
That's my story.
Since then many parents & students have contacted
me and my parents for the guidance. And
I realised the need for this all over the country. That's why I have come up with this COMPREHENSIVE guide for parents and students. A short book.
This could be the start of
YOUR story!
You have a choice to make.
This is YOUR first CRITICAL POINT. And the stakes are not even that high.
Choose wisely!!
Before spending lakhs of rupees on coaching and materials, is it not better to have some clarity first?
If you are in the middle of the preparation, more clarity is still going to take you miles ahead.
Having the privilege of being with many IITians & the teachers, parents who produced them, I have utilised all the the resources to make this guide. You will see that as you go through.
Here is the overview of what you'll
get in the guide →