The first thought which comes into the mind of every science student after giving his/her board exams is, ‘shall I go to Kota to prepare for IIT/AIPMT or not?’ Some have their answers as no, while for few others, it’s time to pack their suitcases and move out for the very first time. When you are leaving your home, you have many doubts in mind. How will I wake up on my own? Will I be able to adjust? Will I crack the entrance exams or not? And many more such questions revolve around in your head.
The truth is everything turns out to be completely different from what you had expected.
A student entering this city is never exactly the same person after spending his 2 most crucial years in Kota. A lot of things change, you get to learn many things about life even if you don’t understand much about projectile and carbon compounds.
In India where kids are being raised in a very protective environment, you actually get a chance in Kota to explore yourself and learn things on your own for the first time. Here are those 5 things which you can easily relate to if you have prepared for IIT /AIIMS exams from Kota –
1. For the first time you get to know what real competition is all about – Life is generally chilled out till your 10th board examinations, and when you move out to Kota after that, you get to see a different world all together. It’s like coming out of a local train and jumping into an express one.
You get to realize how tough it is out there in the actual world where lakhs of students fight it out to grab the few thousands of seats offered by the top universities in India. Generally it’s the competition which either makes or breaks the student. Some flourish, while others start to crumble under pressure. It’s a little strong statement to make, but this is how hard life gets eventually.
2. You start to understand the meaning of the word ‘responsibility’ – Ever since your birth, your mom had always been there to take care of you but when you start living in Kota, you are all on your own. Of course there are friends to help you out but there is always a sense of responsibility on the shoulders. At the end of the day, this decision making capability makes you more mature as an individual.
It’s you who is in charge of thinking about your good and bad, your parents are not there to that for you. Even for waking up in the morning, it’s your irritating alarm, and not your mother’s sweet voice.
3. 24 hours doesn’t seem to be enough – With 8 hours of class everyday and then hundreds of DPP’s to solve, you always seem to be running out of time. There is so much to do all the time, even finding time to sleep becomes difficult. If you are a sincere student then the added pressure of coaching institutes makes sure that you don’t get time for any leisure activities. And in case you are not a sincere student then there is all the time in the world for you to play computer games in cafes and roam around in the city mall.
4. Food will no longer be a priority – The moment you join a mess in Kota, your special love towards food starts diminishing. In the name of good food, all you get to eat is pohas and jalebis, which are by the way available on almost every single shop and thela. You don’t have much of a choice.
Apart from that you also get accustomed to the extra spicy food of Rajasthan, making you more diverse than you ever were.
5. You actually get to know how good you really are in those 2 years – Everyone who joins Bansal or Allen or Carrier Point, starts with a dream of clearing the JEE/AIPMT paper. All of them don’t succeed in doing that. Even if you were a good student in school doesn’t necessarily make you good one in Kota. You have to prove your mettle among lakhs of students who are competing for the same number of seats, in order to succeed.
There is just so much competition in India that until and unless you don’t accept where you stand, it’s very difficult to cope up with reality. Of course no one wants to settle for anything less than the best but sometimes a reality check is the best thing which can happen to a student.
Kota teaches a lot of things, it shows you the picture of the not so simple world. I don’t know whether it’s for the best or not but one thing I do know, a transformation is but obvious when you study in this super competitive city named Kota.
