" So, what are your preparations for studies after Class XII ?", my classmate asked me on my first day at school as an eleventh grader."I am studying for the SAT," I replied, "I'll be giving it later this year. What about you?". "I've joined Fiitjee.",he said gravely."Fiitjee....what's that?", I asked puzzled.My classmate's jaw immediately went crashing to the ground.After he'd recovered from his initial shock, he politely explained to me what Fiitjee was and then looking at me curiously said,"It's quite famous actually."
Such was my ignorance about IIT and related exams two years ago ( I am aware that I've given you all a jaw-dropping shocker!) and it amazed everyone to no end ( and perhaps rightly so)that I knew so little about them." I've made up my mind that I'm going to apply to universities abroad.", I'd explain.But people shot back dubious and occassionally injured looks at me. " Education in India is equally good.",some'd say while others would lecture me on how brain-drain was adversely affecting our economy.And so I quietly continued on my foreign-application quest and discovered along the way that there were many others like me. But there was no escaping signs of the omni-present coaching institutes-classmates exchanging study 'packages', classmates desperately consulting each other for solving their doubts, people discussing their phase tests in the corridors and some even adeptly juggling questions from their packages and those that the teachers put forth as they sat in class.Ask some nerd buried deep in a book what she was doing and she'd say sighing"Oh, you won't understand...Fitjee stuff." Fitjee, VMC, Brilliant and others of their ilk were everywhere and I thought it incredible how they'd permeated their lives completely. It went as far as people teasing a Fiitjee couple in class on how their idea of the height of romance would probably be studying a 'package' together!!
And thus for the better part of my high school days I continued feeling as if I were sticking out like a sore thumb in my class. But now as the start of my term at college in the US draws near, I've taken on a different perspective on the matter.I feel like I'm one amongst the 'chosen few' who are fortunate enough to gain an international exposure at such a young age. I am grateful to be able to go to a foreign land, meet new people, soak in their way of life and imbibe the best of two cultures - foreign as well as my own. And while I feel terrible about the fact that I shall be leaving all things that are so dear to me behind, the thought of exploring and discovering new avenues is exhilirating. Just the other day as I chatted with a classmate, I realized that my departure date would be sometime in the vicinity of my birthday. " It'll be awful being away from family on your birthday, won't it?", she exclaimed. " Yeah, it definetely will be. But I see it this way...it'll signify a rebirth, a beginning to a whole new life, a fresh start....", I replied. And a rebirth it indeed will be.
P.S- For those not in the know, Fiitjee, VMC and Brilliant are institutes that coach students for the entrance exam to the venerable Indian Institute of Technology.
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