The bicycle journeys
I was riding my bicycle back from college today, with the cool Michigan wind sending a gentle shiver through my body, and I was reminded of the days I was in Lucknow, cycling my way back after the tutorial classes for the joint entrance exam late at night.
I have so many fond memories of my bicycle :). I had scheduled my classes in such a way that my Maths and Chemistry classes fell on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Tuesday and Thursday I got most of the day to myself with only physics classes. However, my tutorial class for chemistry was around 8 kilometres away from my Maths class and I would hang around with friends solving some maths problems for an hour or so after the maths class and head off for the Chemistry class. The class ran from 7pm to 10pm. The teacher was excellent and taught at his home and I had to cycle back to the apartment I was staying at after 10:00 pm through Aminabad which was super crowded in the evenings but relatively less crowded at night - although it still was pretty crowded.
I'm a huuuuge day dreamer, and once I crossed the crowded part, the best way to spend the journey was start daydreaming. Most of the times I'd dream about IIT, and how one day perhaps i'll travel back on these streets after having a degree from an IIT, or perhaps when I return on holidays from a dream job in the U.S. :). I'd look at the tiny restaurant with the delicious egg curry from where i'd occasionally take some egg curry to eat when I got back and escape the horrible Paying Guest food that'd be waiting for me. I'd wonder what it'd be like to come back here and eat one day when i've reached somewhere in life. There were high days and low days and on the low ones i'd often wonder what if I didn't make it. That one result could shape to a great deal what my life would be was a terrifying thought.
If you haven't prepared for the JEE exam it's hard for you to imagine what it's like. At one point you are right on top of the exam and at the next exam you get a few really difficult questions and even in your favourite topic you end up doing miserably. I've talked to a few friends later at IIT later and all of them seemed to agree that preparing for that exam in some way fundamentally changes you. When you start out knowing that you are competing against 200,000 students and you know only 3000 something are going to be selected and there is so much at stake, it makes you realize a lot of things about yourself which you probably didn't know before. You have nothing else but your hard work and your mind to get you there. It doesn't matter who you are (well not considering reservation-which is another story!), who your parents are or whatever - you have to walk through those gruelling six hours on your own. And that journey changes you, it shapes you and if you have the perseverance to go through it teaches you a lot about what you really in a lot of ways.
I don't think I can ever work that hard again, ever work that sincerely again. That phase is like a madness - I remember waking up excited about a new way to solve a problem I couldnt solve last night. For that one year I dreamt physics, chemistry and maths most nights!
But that's perhaps why that'll be one of the most special years of my life. A large part of where I am today is because of that one year. It's a part of my life i'm most proud of. I still look forward to riding my bicycle on that road once I go back to India and perhaps eat the egg curry in that tiny restaurant :).
During the preparation i'd wish nothing more than that I'd somehow do well at the exam without having to go through the whole journey. But today I'm glad I had to go through that experience. I can almost hear the echo of Swami Vivekananda's thoughts "God gave me nothing I wanted, He gave me everything I needed".
Thank you God :)
I have so many fond memories of my bicycle :). I had scheduled my classes in such a way that my Maths and Chemistry classes fell on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Tuesday and Thursday I got most of the day to myself with only physics classes. However, my tutorial class for chemistry was around 8 kilometres away from my Maths class and I would hang around with friends solving some maths problems for an hour or so after the maths class and head off for the Chemistry class. The class ran from 7pm to 10pm. The teacher was excellent and taught at his home and I had to cycle back to the apartment I was staying at after 10:00 pm through Aminabad which was super crowded in the evenings but relatively less crowded at night - although it still was pretty crowded.
I'm a huuuuge day dreamer, and once I crossed the crowded part, the best way to spend the journey was start daydreaming. Most of the times I'd dream about IIT, and how one day perhaps i'll travel back on these streets after having a degree from an IIT, or perhaps when I return on holidays from a dream job in the U.S. :). I'd look at the tiny restaurant with the delicious egg curry from where i'd occasionally take some egg curry to eat when I got back and escape the horrible Paying Guest food that'd be waiting for me. I'd wonder what it'd be like to come back here and eat one day when i've reached somewhere in life. There were high days and low days and on the low ones i'd often wonder what if I didn't make it. That one result could shape to a great deal what my life would be was a terrifying thought.
If you haven't prepared for the JEE exam it's hard for you to imagine what it's like. At one point you are right on top of the exam and at the next exam you get a few really difficult questions and even in your favourite topic you end up doing miserably. I've talked to a few friends later at IIT later and all of them seemed to agree that preparing for that exam in some way fundamentally changes you. When you start out knowing that you are competing against 200,000 students and you know only 3000 something are going to be selected and there is so much at stake, it makes you realize a lot of things about yourself which you probably didn't know before. You have nothing else but your hard work and your mind to get you there. It doesn't matter who you are (well not considering reservation-which is another story!), who your parents are or whatever - you have to walk through those gruelling six hours on your own. And that journey changes you, it shapes you and if you have the perseverance to go through it teaches you a lot about what you really in a lot of ways.
I don't think I can ever work that hard again, ever work that sincerely again. That phase is like a madness - I remember waking up excited about a new way to solve a problem I couldnt solve last night. For that one year I dreamt physics, chemistry and maths most nights!
But that's perhaps why that'll be one of the most special years of my life. A large part of where I am today is because of that one year. It's a part of my life i'm most proud of. I still look forward to riding my bicycle on that road once I go back to India and perhaps eat the egg curry in that tiny restaurant :).
During the preparation i'd wish nothing more than that I'd somehow do well at the exam without having to go through the whole journey. But today I'm glad I had to go through that experience. I can almost hear the echo of Swami Vivekananda's thoughts "God gave me nothing I wanted, He gave me everything I needed".
Thank you God :)
Comments