Mystory@Ankita Gaurav: How I got into my course and college

Well, honestly speaking I never thought that I would take up Science. Ever since I was a kid I would love reading books. I had wonderful English teachers who taught me how important it was to read and keep yourself well informed. It was under their influence that I started reading books other than comics and all. By the time I was finished with my 8th standard I had finished reading some of the most popular authors like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen etc. After reading so many books it was like a passion to take up a new book from my school library every week and read it. I never bought any books because my father isn’t a fan of fictional and would never buy them. So having no other choice I would borrow it from my school library and read them at the earliest so that I could get another one issued.

I was in 9th standard when I started writing my first novel. I knew I had to keep it a secret from everyone otherwise I would have to stop it. So I didn’t tell anyone about it. But one day my sister who is a year younger to me found out about it and told my mom. My mom took that book away from me and made me promise her that I would never write again. I did. But after about an year after she had taken my book away I wrote another novel. That was the time when I was writing my 10th standard Board exams and quite surprisingly it came out really well. My cousins loved reading my books and told me to talk to my mom about pursuing writing as a hobby. So one fine day I gathered up enough courage and told my mom all about it and asked her to let me pursue that as a career. She explained it to me that I could never pursue it. In my family I could become a doctor, a business women, an engineer or even a lawyer but not a writer as it was against my family’s expectations. So when I knew that it would never happen I decided to become a doctor and took up the combination PCMB (Physics, Chemistry, Math with Biology) in my 11th and 12th standard. And with my efforts I got into a medical college also through my rank in the competitive exams but then that college was not in Bangalore and I wanted to study here. My reason for that was that ever since I was a kid both my parents had been working and I never got any time with them so I wanted to stay here so that I could spend some more time with them because as every other Indian girl I would have to get married by the time I was 25. So between my ambition and my family I chose my family and decided to stay here and take up admission in an engineering college. My Math had always been my strength and it had helped in pushing up my engineering rank in COMED-K.

Then for choosing my college I had never wanted to take admission in Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology but then my dad kind of forced me or rather let me say insisted that I should take up engineering in this college as his best friend was the placement officer of my college and so he would be assured about me even when he was out on his business trips that there was someone over here who would always help me out despite any situation and correct me wherever I was wrong. That’s why I took admission in this college.

How I cracked college admission

Well as I was basically preparing for medical, most of the entrance tests that I wrote were for medical but I also wrote a few engineering tests like BITSAT, JEE Mains, VIT ENTRANCE TEST, and COMED-K on my dad’s insistence. COMED-K was the only test which I wrote of my own choice but the best part was that I hadn’t even touch my Math textbook before it as I was focusing on medical but despite that I managed to get a good rank in engineering in the test and I took admission in my college based on my COMED-K rank. Throughout my school, I had never taken any such course and I only studied at home on my own for my exams as my parents were always busy with their work. But once I finished writing my 12th Board exams, I knew that I would need some guidance to get a good rank so I joined AAKASH Tutorials for crash course and it kind of helped me also but we must know that such courses can only guide us. They won’t teach us anything that we already didn’t know.

I actually wanted to take admission in Ramaiah Institute of Technology or Dayanand Sagar Institute of Technology or Bangalore Institute of Technology or BMS College of Engineering  as I had a lot of my friends and seniors in these college. But I ended up taking Sir M Visvesvarya Institute of Technology.

What I gained from my college experience

As a kid I always thought that college is very easy exactly like how it’s shown in the movies but it’s not so. It is not even close to it.

I mostly spend my time in college attending classes as my department is the strictest of all departments in terms of attendance and discipline. If we bunk classes or have a mass bunk then our labs are suspended as punishment which causes even more problems. Other than my classes, I am a part of the theatre group of my college and love performing whenever I get a chance. I am also one of the coordinators for my college fest and lead the internal decoration team. During the time that I was preparing for medical I had basically cut off myself from all my hobbies like music, travelling, photography, theatre, etc. So now that I have an established career path for myself I am trying to connect myself to that part of mine which I lost when I stopped writing.

Writing is my way of expressing my happiness, my love, and also my hatred. It’s my biggest strength and at the same time my biggest weakness as well. But I know that I can’t write right now because when I write that’s the only thing I have on my mind. So, my plan is that I will finish my engineering and then take up a job and start writing again or if I am able to get into one of the best management schools in India or even outside India then I’ll go and finish my MBA so that I can come back home and proudly tell my dad that today I have fulfilled your dreams and now I want to fulfill mine. I want to take my guitar out which I literally forced my parents to buy when I was in 10th standard and complete the course that I had left incomplete in the middle. I want to travel around the world to the most hidden corners and write about them. I would love to capture the most amazing moments of my journey with a camera so that when I grow old and look at them I’ll have a smile on my face and I can tell others that even though my life didn’t actually go according to the plan I am glad that I had the strength to accept it and to live it not just for myself but also for my parents. We all want to fulfill our wishes but we never think about what our parents wish or expect from us. So, this is my way of telling my parents thank you or everything that they have done for me or every time that they have been there to stand with me.

My college experience has changed me a lot as a person and has taught me to have patience. People say that engineering is easy but that’s a misconception. If it was so easy then everyone would have been an engineer. As a kid I always thought that college is very easy exactly like how it’s shown in the movies but it’s not so. It is not even close to it. A college is a place where we get to grow, have fun, and become adults without any other responsibilities. If we learn from it, it can change our lives for the better but if we take it for granted then it can leave us ruined forever. So lets choose wisely.

About the Author:

I am Ankita Gaurav. I have basically been an all rounder and I am doing my engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications right now. My hobbies are reading, writing, travelling, photography, music, theatre, designing, and my guitar. I love shopping and having collections.  

Mystory is a new Shiksha initiative to provide students a unique platform to share their experiences right from college admission to career selection. Here’s your chance to get published on India’s leading education portal. We’ll be happy to publish your story.   Write in to us at: mystory@shiksha.com