Father And Son

I live in a small city in Punjab. When the tenth class result of my son was out, he stood first in his class. His rank was tenth in Punjab. We all were very happy that day.

My son wanted to be an engineer and wanted to do his b -tech from one of the good IITs. I asked him what institute he wanted to join. He discussed it with his friend and both joined the best institution in Chandigarh.

He had made the aim of cracking the IIT. In his first attempt. That time I also made a resolution to help him in every way to achieve his aim.

Chandigarh is only one hour's drive from our place. All of the family members went with him on the first day of joining. He had never stayed in a hostel before. When we were coming back after leaving him in the hostel, he and all of us had tears in our eyes.

As he was not accustomed to hostel type food, initially he was very upset. I used to tell him that for a bigger aim you have to forget about small things. I also used to take home food for him on Sundays so that he was not too upset about food.

When the result of the first monthly test came, he did not fare so well. His mood was not so good. I took him to one of our relatives in Chandigarh. Then we had a very good discussion that these occasional things should not bother him and told him not to lose heart.

With time he got adjusted to food and hostel environment. His ranking in tests also improved drastically and now he was in the first five students.

We daily had a talk on the phone for about 10-15 minutes in which I always advised him to relax in between studies and to do his best and not to bother much about the result.

I also used to talk to his teachers about his progress and ask them how we can contribute to our part in his success. I also made sure to implement all the things advised by his teachers.

This helped and he was now first in almost every test. When JEE Mains paper was there in January and April, his overall rank was fourth in all over India. This was a big success and now his aspirations were also gone high and he started thinking about IIT Bombay.

When the final exam of IIT Advance was there, he was very nervous. This exam was in our city and the exam center was very near to our home. The exam was in two shifts of three hours each. As he was going for the first shift we all wished him good luck and I specially asked him to do paper without tension not worrying about the result. We all were there at the center only and in the interval also we took him home for half an hour to relax.

After the final exam was over we asked him how the paper went. He told us that paper was very tough and lengthy and he had left some questions. He was sure of getting a rank in first 500 but for IIT Bombay you have to get a rank below 60. He was somewhat upset I told him that he has given his best now leave the rest to god.

When the result came he got under 50 ranks and IIT Bombay was in reach now. He got admission to IIT Bombay and we all went to Bombay with him for admission and had a very good time there on campus and outside. So his aim and my resolution both got achieved.

Now I am the proud father to whom IIT aspirant’s parents come and ask me how my son cracked IIT  and what is the role of parents in it.