Written for the Open Essay Competition
The world around me finally came to a still. The devious chaos that came with the extrovert way of living soon faded away. I expected the forthcoming days to bring peace and harmony to my inner self. But instead, my time in the lockdown constitued of an adventurous journey of exploring the unknown grounds – myself.
Digging into depths of the real purpose of my life had never been on my to-do list. This new task at hand could be best understood as the side-effects of an antibiotic (the lockdown) due to its complete involuntary and inevitable nature.
With more time at hand, due to no classes, cycling or gym, I usually found my myself pondering over the fact that how I used to recklessly slaughter all the time I had previously.
This realisation came just in time as the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the postponement of all the entrance examinations it was going to conduct. This got me plenty of time to prepare for the exams for which I had bought more than 13 books. So I started with making a schedule for the coming days. It was a bit tight one and would have required immense dedication and hardwork to stick to it. I felt I was ready for it. But that’s what I thought. One week down the line, and I was already running 3 days late from my schedule. I started panicking and as a result skipped understanding the concepts, and focused on memorizing them. Finally, a little later then what I had planned for, I completed studying all the chapters. It was now time to test my understanding and so I began with it.
Out of 45 questions that I solved, I got, quite honestly, only 18 correct. What led was the complete devastation of my self confidence. The following two days, I did nothing but slept, trying to get over the hangover. Then on the third day, as I got up sweating profusely due to the switched off fan and the drawn curtains (which is literally what my parents do to wake me up everyday), my phone buzzed with a notification.
Best books for entrance examinations prep. Video live now
YouTube
Like always, I swiped to dismiss it. But instead of vanishing it opened up. Who knew that this little accident would lead to a complete change in my way of thinking. The video started with a teacher holding a book titled NCERT which happens to be the backbone for entrance examinations. I was going to stop the video because I knew these things, it was just when the teacher picked up another set of books from the table in front of him. My finger stopped middleway and hovered over the screen. The books were labelled University Physics, Campbell Biology and Solomin’s Organic Chemistry respectively and they got my complete attention.
“These books are not written according to the Indian examinations but are great if you desire to have crystal clear conceptual understanding of the respective subjects” is what the teacher said.
A search on Google got me the required results under a second. On Amazon the cheapest of the three were of ₹5,000. The expensive price tage did not affect me, as I was of the ones who browses the entire internet for the ‘PDF version’ to download.
I found all of them at an online library called ‘Library Genesis’. I started reading them and after 1-2 pages it happened. The life-changing moment was here. Here’s what happened, I was completely blown by the pedagogy presented by the authors of the book. Vivid illustrations aided meticulous descriptions of processes and concepts. This was one of the most remarkable moment of enlightenment in my study life. I finally found interest in knowing more about what I was reading, more about the subject, over and all, I had this newfound curiosity about the subjects I was studying.
I knew there were only there ways to crack entrance examinations. One, you have enrolled yourself in a premium coaching institute. Two, you have all the resources and are motivated to do it all by yourself. Three, you have joined a coaching institute and are self-motivated (the perfect recipie for becoming in a topper).
Until now, I was in neither of the categories. Now, I saw an ocean of hope lying in front of me and a ship which could take me to where I dreamt of going. I found a newfound purpose to live by. I would read these books 24×7, before sleeping, during breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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