‘I feel like an IIT is my only way out of Ranchi’

Anukul Anand is a 17-yr-old Class 12 student. His dream is to be an engineer in Delhi. He has three takes, he says. That’s how many times you’re allowed to take the IIT joint entrance exam.

I’ve lived in Ranchi all my life. The streets are full of engineers, some quite successful, some not so much. But they’re all looked at with respect and I want to be one of them.

Anukul has signed up for mathematics and physics coaching to help him prepare for the JEE. It costs less than the coaching packages, he says. Many of his classmates are already well into their five-year IIT-JEE coaching packages and spend up to six hours a day after school at these centres. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Everyone knows it’s a struggle. I attend DAV Public School Bariatu from 7 am to 1 pm. After that I have mathematics coaching with a school teacher. Then I have classes in physics with another coach. This is actually cheaper than enrolling in one of the big-name coaching centres here. I also have an easier schedule than my classmates who are in locked in the 5-year-package.

I think I’d make a good engineer. I’ve been making simple machines since I was in class 5 and my prototypes of simple robots have won awards at local competitions. I want to pursue robotics as a career, but it’s not something you can do in Ranchi, so getting into an IIT is the only way to get out, though I do not know which IIT will I like going to.

My father is an LIC agent’ my mother is a homemaker. Neither understands what I want to do. My mum has never heard of robotics and worries that it will be difficult for me to find a bride, since I am the only child, they want me to marry a girl from a good family. I guess I’ll have to look for one in Delhi when I go to work there as an engineer.

(The author is a Class 12 student. His dream is to be an engineer in Delhi.)