'Tutoring the future'

There is a city in India which is one of its kind! I mean because of its transition from a village to a city happened in a short span of 20 years. Normally, this should not grab attention as most parts of India have grown up in similar time-frames to become mini-metros. The paradigm shift was brought about either by an industrial boom in the vicinity or the influence of a powerful politician.But 'Kota' is unique- it is a city that survives on an industry which requires the intellectual power of half the country, the great coaching tamasha.
Coaching was never an alien concept in India. It probably started pre-independence when English slowly gained acceptance amongst India's urban class. Being short-handed, most parents would call tutors to teach their wards enough grammar in order to pass the SSC exam. But there was no corporatization present, most of the tutors were Intermediate passed jobless men who made a dime for their family through coaching. On the other hand, there were known names too in cities like Allahabad and Delhi, which admitted student to prepare for perhaps the most prestigious examination in India to date-Indian Civil Services. It was considered a privilege of the elite, as preparation went on for an average of 3-4 years after graduation and the selection rate was peanuts compared to the number of applicants.Underneath the development of India as an economic and intellectual power was a wave of higher education which would assumer mammoth proportions in years to come, the IITs.
If we go towards the beginning of the first known coaching in India, the Bansal Classes, Kota was just like any other ordinary town in Rajasthan. Lack of electricity & water, a high rate of unemployment due to the bludgeoning of a nearby cement factory by the worsening credit crisis prevalent in the 80's. The 'Joint Entrance Examination' or the JEE was still considered the epitome of hard work and sharp brain. No one cared to even attempt it if he wasn't among the top of his class. But IITs were bringing fame to India from all corners of the world due to the good performance of its alumni and there popularity as growing throughout India. The economic conditions only favored the stiff competiton- our economy was bust and the number of jobless outnumbered those with a PSU job. IITs were considered a safe bet compared to universities or art colleges as they promised a future for anyone who managed to complete his stay there.Perhaps it was sharp business acumen, perhaps it was the will of an academian, but
Mr. V.K.Bansal decided to start a revolution-establishing the first coaching class for JEE at Kota in 1985. It was a unique step if you consider the logistics involved. Kota was no where near the perfect city a parent would send his child to stay and prepare for 2,3,4 or even 5 years. It was tucked away in the hot and arid Rajasthan, with the only claim to fame being a Nuclear energy power plant nearby. Bansal turned each question on the validity of his location to his advantage. Kota was away from the noise of a city, so students can focus solely on cracking the 'toughest' exam in the world without worrying about a visit from home or television. Bansal Classes started a trend which led to the establishment of numerous other coachings within 5 years. Retired IIT profs and young graduates shifted base to Kota and established competitors like Resonance and Narayana. Soon an hierachy was established and Bansal was still the place to be if you wanted to have the best chance of cracking the JEE. The city itself metamorphosed into a student republic. Every house had rooms rented to students, there were messing facilities in every corner of the city and even businesses like stationary and laundry adapted themselves according to the students, who would flock into the city in tunes of tens of thousands to achieve every middle-class family's dream.
When Kota got saturated, new centres came up: Hyderabad,Kanpur,Mumbai, Patna,etc. Soon, every district in India had a coaching class devoted to JEE preparation. The bigger players hired IIT graduates and professors, the lesser ones opted for teachers fired from the notable centres to make a name in their locality. In 25 years, JEE coaching has turned into a 10,000 crore industry in India according to ASSOCHAM. This figure may be inflated, but in my opinion, the exact aount may be higher than this. An average student spends Rs.1 lakh per annum in Kota while those preparing from their hometown spend anything close to Rs. 40k-50k per annum. Therefore, if we draw a rough estimate for the 4 lakh candidates who appeared in JEE 2009 , the figure would cross the amount easily. And this doesn't even include Medical and AIEEE coaching.
Coaching has had a deep effect on the psyche of an avergae Indian family. It is a symbol of prestige and spending power as much as it is a symbol of exhibitioning one's ward. Parents spend half of their annual income, take loans from banks or relatives to finance a trip to the magic land of numbers, without caring for the inclination of their child or his wish to pursue engineering or not. This has resulted in a win-win situation for these classes. An average student who wouldn't dream to get into IIT now hopes so and walks into a coaching class to push him towards the ultimate gratification of clearing the JEE. Little do they realize that the failure rate stacks up the odds against them and they are just not made for engineering. I have known friends who wasted 2-3 precious years trying to get through and ultimately realized they are not made for this. All are happy pursuing their interests right now. This is also a reflection of our rigid education system, which streamlines students into Maths and Biology post 10th standard and then forces them to slog it out for the limited opportunities available. A doctor is respected in India, an arts student is not. Only medicine or engineering can make lives of the coming generations prosperous! No one cares about the interest of a child, what he actually wants to do and how he wants to do it. This is a great moment for the Indian middle-class to reflect upon it's postion in the 21st century and decide how it wants the future of this country to be. Will aptitude gain victory over convention? We'll have to wait and see.

Till then, the great coaching candy will contue to lure helpless students towards it!

Heading towards Hotel 13

No, that’s not a typo!!! I mean that.

Being a Titan ( yeah, I can claim to be one with a fair amount of success) for the last one and a half year, it is really painful to see where our hostel is heading now. The empty grounds in the evening, the lull at sky-b, say it all. We’ve either lost the spirit of ‘The House of Titans’, or we never actually had it!

This article can move in two different directions from hereon.

1. The senti stuff, hostel sophies have no enthu, thirdie batch bekaar hai, fourthie batch no longer

values the hostel and stuff.

2. A flashback of all the wonderful memories binding us together for the last year or so.

I prefer the second one, the first one would come in my final year ( though the only ug batch left then will know pretty well that this is due). As usual, things change a lot, and I mean a lot, as you progress from your freshie to your sophie year. No insti authority would come to visit you throughout the year, you don’t have a separate wing with your friends and finally, you’re a freshie for 2 years running!

2007 PAf- Saare jahan se accha, is special for more than one reason to me. Not only did we manage to win the coveted trophy, I got a feel of how my seniors and hostel is going to be in the next 4 years. Cutting bamboos in the night, then the scramble for a odd bite of the paratha that was served to a hungry group of 40 odd people. One person stood out right from the beginning, to sophies, he won the roll of honour this year, Balveer Singh, and to us, he’ll remain Ballu.

It was amazing to see how much the guy cared for the hostel. Being their throughout the Paf, arranging freshies to shouting maa-behen gaalis every passing minute, he rightly epitomised what we all know as a ideal hostelite. Then, the wing selection intros took us into a different experience. Gone were the sweet words used aplenty during PAF. Here, all of us had a mock interview right in our first year, complete with a resume which, by that time, consisted of the odd PAF work, intra-hostel participation or things like, ‘I am in NSO footer’ or ‘I want to become a secy’! I particularly remember how I couldn’t bear it anymore at C4 after an hour of intro session, and stormed out.

That experience was invaluable, ‘cause it gave us a glimpse of the culture we’ll be entering in and the responsibilities in it. I’m sure any of the B2 or A7 junta will tell you how they’re pumped up to face the opponent wing ( I mean each other!). That aside, the secy elections and the poltu that ensued, made it clear that Hostel 13 is feared in the insti for a reason-‘People here wanna win at any cost’. Be it the H-13 Idol that followed soon after or the Frisbee tournament, saw a sea of hostelites coming out desperately to make their wing win valuable points in the intra-cult GC. All these were dispersed with fundaes from our seniors, on how important it is to carry on the wing legacy. The convo treats only re-enforced their point, and made us proud of our wing. The night-outs with seniors, preparing for the main GC or the regular sports practice, all made us feel special. I still remember the joy on everyone’s face on winning the Crossy GC in 2008 and the disappointment on losing PAF by a wide margin.

Cut to today, the hostel doesn’t feel the same anymore. All is definitely not well when 2 successful intra events have to be cancelled due to lack of participants and the La Liga is re-scheduled due to teams not coming out to play. And then, the secy elections also turned out to be a huge disappointment. No one for the SOC secy post and uncontested candidates in all but two categories re-affirmed that things will never be the same anymore. Last night, 8-11-08, the hostel IDOL saw a meagre participation from UGs. In fact, it was clear that no one bothers about the intra-cult GC anymore. C’mon, even 2 ‘Mess workers’ came and sang , while the audience consisted of 5-6 non-council junta.This sem is over, but next sem has an awful lot of activity for everyone to participate in. Please participate junta, the council is of no use if you don’t bother about the hostel and make it a point to attend the GBM just to make life hell for the Mess Co.

I personally had a great experience last year, came to a great wing C5, met seniors like Abhiroop, Rahul SK and Nikhil who had a name in the hostel and learnt a lot from people like Pavan, Ramu, Kiran and others. Seniors like Papa, Ballu, Kris, Malik, Robin would always be missed, but this is the time when the current batch can step-up and take their place.

Let’s remain a Titan till we’re in IIT!!!!

Cheers

Siddharth Shukla

C 513

What's really wrong with us???

Hey all!
Quite a lot of fireworks have been on display recently in our country. First the attacks on 2 of the Indian Economy hubs, then a long awaited Gold medal at the Olympics, and last but not the least, the ongoing Kashmiri unrest.
What really shocked me was a statement made today by a man who, despite being born and bred on our soil, claims he's a Pakistani!!! God save us, but is our government totally helpless in this testing scenario?? What a pity really, a political figure, who addresses a rally of over 10 thousand in the sensitive valley, proclaims he's bonded with Islam, and thereby Pakistan. And to add insult to the injury, the protesters marquee the occasion with chants of greatness of probably our biggest enemy in recent history.
With the situation worsening in the state everyday, a communal riot is all but on the charts. This sectoral divide of, what Indians consider their 'Crown Jewel', may initiate a round of regional unrest in our country. Already reeling under the constant threat of Naxalism, what could be worse is a similar demand from other sensitive states like Punjab, Assam and Sikkim. With incidents of Ceasefire violations coming up everyday, shouldn't the government take matters in its own hands now rather than rue a disaster later on. Many a times have communists supported their claim of an 'Iron Fist' being necessary to take a nation towards prosperity. Though i'm a strict supporter of freedom of citizens, it would be wrong to take an Anti-India statement as freedom of speech.Wihin a fortnight, we can expect the situation to worsen if millitancy gains breakthroughs through our fragile borders in this event of turmoil in the valley. Kashmiris have lived together as brothers and sisters peacefully for the last 61 years. 2 of India's biggets hindu shrines are located in the Muslim-dominated state, yet you'll find not one complain of religious hatred from the people of this heaven. But as a great philosopher said, 'Choose your leader wisely, for he may leave you with no choice later on'. Politics in our country is going to rags day-by-day. The petty appesement schemes of our leaders are only incultating a sense of being special among the beneficiaries, thereby decreasing the sense of unity.
As long as we are one, we're stronger than our mightiest enemy. If we fall apart, we're brittle and open to terrorism and civil anarchy from all frontiers. So here's an appeal to my fellow Indians, believe in the Almighty, for by his bliss, this sorrowful period will phase out like the spring phases out the austere winter.

Proud to be an Indian, and proud to be united!!!!!