10th April 2010 : IIT JEE 2010

Date : 10th April 2011 Place : My hostel room at BITS Goa
Time : 9:15 am

Exactly 1 year from now was the most important day of my life . The day I had been waiting for since 2 years.
I remember the torturous night on the eve of IIT-JEE-2010 . I had my centre in Mumbai so had stayed in an army mess in Mumbai . The bed bugs bothered me a lot as if they wanted to spoil a perfect uneventful eve . I remember eating cautiously so that I dint upset my stomach . My sweet brother kept himslef awake all night so that I could get a good sleep without the bedbugs troubling me . So far so good , the night had passed letting me have a couple of hours of sleep . I travelled on a local train with my brother feeling my nerves .
I kept telling to myself "Today is the big day and I am going to make it" . I saw the fear in other peoples eyes in the local train  who were also going to take IIT-JEE . Some people were even revising in the local train for the exam . On this my brother remarked jokinly whether I also required a bit of revision . I laughed on his comment but a part of me  inside was still hoping I dint forget anything . I reached at the centre, Jamanabai Narsee . My dad was flying in all the way from Kashmir ( as he is in the army ) to Pune then travelling overnight to Mumbai with mom in our car . My parents had planned to meet me there at the centre and wish me luck and so it happened . My parents said remain calm and just do it . I stepped  inside the school finding my way to the designated classroom . I sat down on the second seat near the window in the classroom . Trying to remain calm , I looked out of the window and did the streching excercises I had thought I
would do during the exam . I started taking deep breaths and tried to slower the beating of my heart . And so it began IIT-JEE 2010 Paper - 1 . As usual I started with Physics ( My only love of life ) , then did chemistry
and finally maths . Paper 1 went good , I think it even got reflected on my face . I remember I was so relaxed now that I ate a bit too much at a restaurant . But before reaching the centre again my heartbeat quickened because to do well in JEE you have to do good in both papers . This time I was in a hurry to bid bye to my parents and  my brother and reach the classroom . Again I tried calming myslef down by the slow and deep breathing . The answer sheets were distributed and I noticed Phy , Chem , Maths were not in the same order but I kept quiet . After the  question paper was distributed I immidiately called for the invigilator and told her the question numbers on the question paper and the answer sheet dint match . This showed that my presence of mind was still good . This time the paper was a bit tough . Even the love of my life ( Phy ) was a bit tough but not tough enough to stop me from getting 40-50 out of 80 . Chemistry was as usual ok . Then I arrived on the subject which ruined the chances of me going to any IIT , Maths . Maths paper 2 was so tough according to me that numerous times I went through the maths section trying to find a question I could solve . Now I was getting tensed . In the last 40 min out of the 3 hours for paper 2  I scored just 2 marks . I came out of the examination hall not as happy as I was after paper 1 . But my parents said I was one of the few people at the centre who was saying that the paper was not bad . Then you know how the people who care about you try to make you happy by giving you false hope and you who doesnt want to face the truth also start hoping for the good .
The next day after IIT-JEE solutions were out I went to a friends house and checked my paper as I had marked all my answers on the question paper itself . I was expecting a score of 206 . I was getting the feeling that the battle was lost . But again a person tries to give himself hope by wishing that the other students hadnt done well in IIT-JEE and the exam was tough for everyone .
After that I tried my score on several IIT-JEE rank predictors which mostly gave a rank of around 3000 , which  dint seem bad to me so I started getting this feeling of a rank in the 3 thousands . Hope was all I had .
During this interval I never focussed on any other entrance exam . But did a bit of preparation
for BITSAT . Then the day came 26th May 2010 . The " Judgement Day " . The IIT JEE site traffic was high so it  took time to load . As we entered my reg. no and password there it was Congratulations Karan Singh Mann AIR:6871 . This is how my dream of going into the IIT was shattered . My parents tried to console me saying I had atleast  cleared IIT-JEE which was a big thing in itself . Rahul sir ( my phy teacher at my coachin centre ) often stated
"Aim for the stars , you will atleast reach the moon" . I always aimed for a rank of around 1000-2000 . But I
guess I did reach the moon only not the stars .

Thanks for reading :)
Singning off

Karan Singh Mann
B.E(Hons)
Electrical & Electronics Engg.

BITS - Pilani Goa Campus .