Is it your calling?

If I said I’ve been busy, it would be the understatement of the year. Well, not exactly. But caught up in the whirlwind of Motion, Gas and Co-ordinate Geometry, snatching a couple of hours for myself is becoming increasingly difficult.

We’ve always visualized colleges like planets – places that exist but no one goes to. The only reason for which a person ever decides to hop in there is curiosity. (The difference is, everyone wants to visit a planet and college isn’t as interesting…but let’s ignores that for now!) For me though, my college and coaching classes are in the same building, so it doesn’t make much of a difference. Hence I may be one of those rare people who will get the honour of retelling stories. Maybe it may be of the one in which a few boys broke the whiteboard’s support and put slates behind it so that they would fall off when the professor went to wipe it, or it could be the one in which we might have decided to hide the duster. Maybe, we may even play around with chemicals, sneak them out, and try a few super cool reactions. (I’m not telling you we did this. These may be some potential ideas though! :P)

Apart from these gimmicks and occasional wisecracks, college/coaching isn’t something one would look forward to unless you really like the subject. So why are thousands of people subjecting themselves to six hours of mental exhaustion? Why are such a large number of people preparing for complicated exams when clearly, something else is their calling?

I guess this is exactly what my Physics professor was thinking about when he asked my batch (consisting of around sixty people) a question. A simple question of why we all want to get into The Indian Institute of Technology, better known as IIT.

Some said it was because of competition, others said because it was a challenge. A few mentioned that it is a ‘brand’ (due to lack of a better word). Nobody said it was because science fascinated them or because they wanted to discover the unknown and do research, in which case the best and most renowned university you can get into is IIT.  

It’s funny. While trying to crack the JJE Entrance exam, whether you mange to crack it or not is questionable, but you will surely end up cracking yourselves! IIT isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. For a few it is, but for the rest it turns into a waste of coffee.

What I’m trying to say is something millions of people have already said. I’m asking everyone to do what they like. If you are my age, these two years, the eleventh and twelfth could make and break your life. But in the end, it’s our decision.

Kanksha J