I just ran as hard as I could, and then, the race started.

I just ran as hard as I could, and then, the race started.  <Part I, Class 11^th>

The journey Of class 11^th and 12^th was indeed  *******.  But now after all this, after getting into a medical college, I am being told, “The” race is yet to BEGIN. Life is indeed a Bitch.

_____________

2^nd April 2010: After the Class 10^th Board Exams

I was sitting in front of my PC (Vista :p), thinking of what subjects to fill in, as I was supposed to select my stream and the subjects for class 11^th and 12^th. Science, the obvious choice of most of the students in my society was my evident choice too, but the question was, Engineering OR Medical ?

It’s not that I didn’t know what to choose, becoming a Doctor was a childhood dream (everyone’s is…..*sigh*), but belonging to a typical Engineering family, be it my father, grandfather, or great-grand father, it was a challenging task to be what people would say 'the first doctor in the family'.

Its strange, how  people who ARE your well-wishers (in my case my parents), who try to aid you, help you, end up scaring you off.  My father, who came to my ‘rescue’, suggested, “Beta, its so simple, let's take both maths and biology, along with the obvious physics, chemistry and english, we will see how we perform in class 11^th, then we can drop either Bio Or Maths in 12^th,  after we are sure.”  THAT, my friends, WITH the “we” part, was indeed scary.

٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩ (●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶

2^nd June 2010

I was sitting in my Zoology class (yes, studying Biology wasn’t enough :p ),and, as it ended, the teacher landed a bomb on us. “Class, you have been working hard in this institute, now its time to prove yourselves, its been almost two months and now its time for your monthly test.  These tests will give you an insight to yourself, and help you know your level.  Please mind, scoring well in these tests will help you to get promoted to better batches, i.e. the Batches Of Excellence. 40 students in each batch means you need to get a rank under 80. All the very best !”

AIPMT (All India Pre Medical Entrance Test) attracted over 3 lakh wannabe doctors all over India. Having over 3 thousand seats in colleges makes this exam one of the toughest to crack. (Mind you, that's just 1% and includes the not-so-good colleges.. Seats in good colleges and metro cities may be around 0.02%) Of course, we have other exams for even better colleges like AIIMS, JIPMER, CMC, KMC, MAMC, AFMC  (sorry for those boring ..C’s ! :p), even tougher to crack.  Joining a coaching institute was an obvious choice.

I could not think anything beyond the teeming millions of wannabe doctors who I need to wrestle to get into a college of my choice. My choice, like EVERY other medical student, was AIIMS.  36 “top minds” out of lakhs would get a chance to study in this college.

They say, If you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it.

And that is why, my first goal was to get into “the” top 80 students,  to get a rank under 80 among some 300 students who were expected for the test.  Had I thought of the fact that to get into Aiims, I would need to get a rank of 35 among some 3 lakh students, my zeal would have turned to regret. But, the plan was, to take it one at a time.

I imagined myself in a sea, along with lakhs of other wannabe doctors, kicking and screaming to breathe. The waters may close over me, making me irrelevant to the Indian Education system. But what the future held for me, time would show :p

٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩ (●̮̮̃•̃)۶

Was this easy ? (ha!) 

Well, The best way to predict the future was to create it. The challenge was to master the skill, which was the ability to tackle the multiple choice questions, where the 4 options seem to sway your mind, each one begging to be picked, and if you make a wrong choice, you not only lose the marks for ‘the’ question, but are also punished with negative marks . Its not that I haven’t dealt them before, this time it was about my life, my dream, my passion, It was about being a doctor. Its weird how your mind starts visualizing the worst, It was just a class test, And it appeared to be an ordeal for life.

I heard that the students of “The Batch Of Excellence” were treated preciously, similar to how one would imagine Mango slice officials treat their brand ambassador Katrina Kaif. (Dialogue credits Chetan Bhagat  :p). Man, I wanted to be with Katrina Kaif. ;)

I did all I could. My teachers said that in medical exams, even an average student can reach skies, he just needs to work hard. The specific reference to ‘medical’ reminded me the heavy mark weightage given to Biology, and I wanted them to replace “work” by “mug up”. ( I had a upper hand in physics, Ha ! )

_______________________________

I did get a rank. Rank 4. Marks 68%.

I soon realized, this was not a school exam, where anything below 80 meant death. It was the rank that mattered, Competition is the name Baby !

“ Can you repeat how many students gave this test ? 302 ? Oh, then it must be the quality then, were the other intelligent students absent?" responded my father after the result.

It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse. Actually my parents had really low expectations of me, So I had this great problem of ‘the’ Indian Education System solved,  No high expectations from your parents. Whatever superior I do, it is considered as a bonus ! Check Mate !  ;D

٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶

2^nd July/August/September/October/November/December/January/February 

Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. The only funda I had.

I kept fighting, kept struggling, Only to hope that one day I ll be trained to cure others.

This may sound a lot nerdy ( Oh No.), but the tests actually helped a lot. These bombs made me trained to avoid any other bombs, tough bombs, easy bombs, unexpected bombs, unforeseen bombs, unpredicted bombs, surprising bombs, astonishing bombs………  Ms Word is out of synonyms, so I must stop.  :P :P 

School  + The Coaching institutes, some say this combination is one of the most harsh truth of a science student. Well, my case was different. (Ha !)  Schools (Friends to be specific) helped me to regain the mental and social strength, It was something that keeps you going. The Coaching Institutes drilled you hard, made you  'Rattafying Parrots' (The Great Indian education system, *sigh* ), and made your hopes of being a doctor alive ! School ? Well, they promised me a good for nothing percentage in my 12th board exams  :/

Coaching without School meant Brain without the Limbic system, while School without Coaching meant Brain without Hypothalamus. Samajh kar dikhao !

No matter how old I get, the race remains one of life's most rewarding experiences. My times become slower and slower, but the experience of the race is unchanged: each race a drama, each race a challenge, each race stretching me in one way or another, and each race telling me more about myself and others.

Class 11^th was tough, But 12^th was even worse. Class 12^th board + entrances, this was going to be a thing. With this increasing pressure and studies, I needed to drop mathematics  and take a time pass subject (Physical Education ;D), but was I sure enough ? Or as my faher had put, Are ‘we’ Sure yet ?

TO BE CONTINUED…..

Posted in: aiims, aipmt, becoming doctors, blog, coaching institute, doctor, exam, how to crack, India, life, life of a medical student, mamc, medicine, pressure, selection, sky, struggle, vanura, yo mama yo