ARPAN MANGAL
ADMITTANCE: IISc
Trust me, I used to disturb them a lot, even for very small things. But they
were always patient to listen carefully and suggested a remedy for it
I
remember the day my 10th class results were announced, CGPA 10/10. I
was super excited to go to Kota, Rajasthan to prepare for JEE exam. All dreams set to become an IITian. My mother
came to me and said:
Mom:
Arpan, We can’t allow you to go to Kota.
Me:
Surprised!! But Why?. That was the plan since last 2 years.
Mom:
We found that many students who went to Kota for preparation can’t
even
clear the board exams. So it is better if you stay here and focus on you 12th
class board percentage.
I
tried to convince my father, grandfather, grandmother, but all of them were of
the opinion that I am not well prepared to live outside alone. I was depressed; feeling like it is a end of
life. Days were passed, school reopened and class XI studies got started. But I
lost the passion of study I had. I always used to feel low. Many of my
classmates went to Kota. Teachers often used to give their examples in class.
There were many like me in class who were feeling that they are missing out
something by not going to Kota.
One
day, My chemistry teacher tried to motivate us by telling pros and cons of
going outside for preparation. She said
that there is tremendous pressure on student in Kota. Students are feeling
miserable over there and there is no one who can share their pain. She said if
you go back to home after working very hard entire day and your Mom says “
Arrey thak gya mera beta, Khana kao aur dudh pee ke so jao, aur sir pe pyaar se
haath phira de”, no matters how much tired you are, no matters how bad the
things are going on you end, you will be energetic to fight next day. This motivates me a lot. I stopped thinking
about IITs and give my best to prepare for 12th board exams.
Class
12th results came, got 94.4%, but could not clear JEE exam. No
worries that I even did not prepare for that.
I took admission in Shiv Nadar University for B.Tech. Everything was
going smooth. Now there is a twist in
the story. When my father started to interact with others about career options,
he realized he has committed a big mistake by not sending me to prepare for
JEE. He realized that lot of opportunity opens up if you do your B.Tech from
IITs. She discussed with my sister, she was also in 3rd year of her
B.Tech, is there is anything which can be done now. My sister told my father
about GATE examination and said if we do M.Tech also from IITs we will get the
same opportunity which B.Tech students have in IITs. But I was not all in mood
to go to IIT now. But my father was putting all his efforts. Every day he used
to ask me and my sister to find some coaching for GATE preparation. But me and
my sister were taking it very lightly.
Now
story took a turn. It was 2014 December end, my sister was in final year of B.Tech
and I was in my 2nd year. My
sister found one coaching “Success Gateway Engineers Academy” who was teaching
students for free. Because of influence
of her friends my sister joined that. My
sister found that very good. She started putting lot of efforts preparing for
GATE 2015 though only some time was left. She was very impressed by teachings
of Vinod Sir and Sachin Sir. She was getting conceptual clarity of the
subjects. All together she was very happy.
Though she was not able to clear the exam but she was so much satisfied.
Concepts which she learnt in these last 1 month, she was not able to learn in
entire 4 years of her B.Tech. And this was the case with her friends as well.
When she discussed these experiences with my father and me, we were very
impressed. We ourselves seen how much efforts she put in these last 1 month compared to 4 years, and that could only happen once you develop interest in
what you are learning.
Once
again I started to dream for IITs. In April 2015, I gave my last exam of 2nd
year B.Tech and came home. Before even taking the meal, I called Sachin Sir and
said, Sir I am free now, please tell how can I start preparation. He laughed at
me. He asked me to relax and said
coaching will start in mid-June. But as
I was pressing him hard, he asked me to read one book.
I
joined coaching in June 2015. Vinod Sir was teaching “Algorithms” and Sachin
Sir was teaching “Operating System”. Ahh! What a teacher, Amazing!. I could not even imagine that these subjects
can be taught in such a way. Everything was crystal clear. I got so much
interested in these subjects. I used to revise notes, read standard textbook
and solve questions. They used to take
real life examples, lot of discussion in the class. Lot of fun and party as
well. I was enjoying a lot. They used to give attention to each and every
student. We could call them anytime for anything. I develop faith in them and started following
their instructions seriously. And If I find some instruction not working for
me, instead of not following it, I used to discuss with them so that they can
make me understand why they are asking me to do that.
One of
the best things of this coaching was environment. Everyone was accessible. There was drop-out batch who was preparing
again. We used to study with them as well. Their failures taught as many
things. Overall there was very friendly environment. We were not competing with
each other. Everyone was helping each other to the extent he can.
After
those 2 months of prep and completing 3 subjects, I was back to my college
life. Since I can only give exam in 2017, it was planned that I will go to
coaching only in summer and winter vacation. They have planned separately for
me. But now my way of looking at things was completely changed. There was some kind of curiosity and patience
developed in me. Many times I used to
read standard textbooks and surf the internet even if that is not the part of
my syllabus.
Though
physically I was not going to coaching classes, coaching was still on. Every 2-3 days I used to update them about my
status. They were guiding me in each and every thing like in selecting the
courses, focus on placements and etc. I
was so much passionate about GATE now, that everyone in the hostel can feel
so. In my discussions on the dinner
table, the way I used to participate in the classes, the way I discuss the
concepts with my friend. Even some faculties in my college were
influenced. One faculty from maths
department formed the group and started taking some maths concepts of GATE
syllabus.
Yaa,
There were times that I feel I am loosing the track and things are not going
smoothly. But all I had to do is, just call Sachin sir and Vinod Sir and
everything will be on track from the very next day. Trust me, I used to disturb them a lot, even for very small things. But
they were always patient to listen carefully and suggested a remedy for it.
All I need to do is to follow that, but not blindly, I used to discuss proper
pros and cons of each thing.
I went to coaching in December, then in
June-July 2016. By this time, I was done with my syllabus. Everything was very
much planned. They have given lot of practice booklets, lots of tests both subject
wise and full length. They even taught “Aptitude”. And after that I understood it was very
important, we started solving aptitude questions in 1/4th of the
time.
Again,
One more twist in the story. GATE 2017 was scheduled on 11th
feb. My father fixed my sister’s wedding
on 29th Jan. And we all know
how Indian weddings are, they started a month ago from marriage date and goes
on even after a week of marriage. The groom side even asked my father to
postpone the date for marriage because of my exam. But my father was so
confident about my preparation that he didn’t.
To add difficulty you must
remember Demonetization in Nov-2016 and I had my sister marriage in Jan. Whole
November and December, I revised my
coaching notes in the banks queue for exchange of notes. There was a
marriage environment in my family from December till my exam date. But when I
used to discuss these things with Sachin Sir and Vinod Sir, they used to say
that don’t worry, we have prepared you, we are confident in you and even if you
don’t prepare for even 2 months you are going to crack this examination. It was not my hard work alone, it was also
the confidence they have in their teaching. They were confident that our concepts
are so clear that even if we forget any formula in exam hall, we can derive it
then and there.
I
cleared GATE-2017 with AIR 29 and joined IISc. The story goes on even here. First exam of IISc was of Algorithms. It
was 20 marks test. I scored 20/20 in this test.
I was alone to score this. It was all because of Vinod Sir who gave 2
months to teach Algorithms alone while GATE prep. Such things were repeated in all the
subjects. I scored 9.4/10 CGPA in IISc.
I got selected in Samsung R & D with package of 25lpa.
I
can’t express my gratitude towards these two legends in words. Their teachings
were not limited to GATE prep only, they are helping me now as well. I pray to God to bless with such a “Guru” to
each one of us.
Very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteVery nice 😄
ReplyDeleteThis story is so inspiring
ReplyDelete