We remember the day Nitesh was selected in 2018 for the Vidya Vritti scholarship. He came across as a very sincere student with sharp determination to make it big and he did it. He topped in Arts stream with 98% marks in his XIIth boards in Bokaro district (2020) and also bagged a 3rd position in the entire state of Jharkhand.
He is currently pursuing B.A. (Hon) Political Science at Hindu College, University of Delhi. We are extremely proud of him and wish him all the very best for a bright future. May all his wishes come true!! Here’s a candid interview with Nitesh on his secret sauce for success, his dreams and aspirations for life after school.
Q: Nitesh, where you from originally?
A: I was born in Talgaria basti, which is in Bokaro zilla, Jharkhand.
Q: Where were you living before Bokaro, before coming to school?
A: Before coming to Chinmaya, we lived in 3 different places. Primary education was in a small school in Talgaria village. Then we moved to Dhanbad where my father used to work in the coal mines. That’s where I studied from 1st-8th classes. To complete my 9th and 10th I moved to my maternal uncle’s place in Bokaro , from where I used to commute everyday to attend school at Holy Cross, Chandankiyari. After completing Std 10th, I finally shifted to Chinmaya.
Q: Why did you pick Chinmaya and not some other school? Holy Cross is also a well reputed school, after all?
A: First of all, I had a perception that Chinmaya was the best school in Bokaro. That’s because many of my friends had been to Chinmaya to attend competitions, or who had other friends who studied at Chinmaya. I found out more about the educational environment, rules and regulations, the studies and quality of teachers and students through them. I also spoke to another maternal uncle whose kids also studied at Chinmaya. Based on all these I felt like Chinmaya was the best place for me in a way that matched my interests.
Q : How was your experience studying in Chinmaya Vidyalaya and what is one thing that you value the most about it?
A: Honestly, when I first entered in Chinmaya on 30th May, 2018 – I exactly remember the date also – and when I met with Ashok sir, that’s when I realized that Chinmaya was much higher than my expectations. In terms of teachers as well as staff members. They were very supportive and cared for each and every one of their students. Specially, I have learnt a lot from our economics teacher, Roshan Sir and sociology teacher , S.N Jha sir. I am still in constant touch with them and blessed to have them as my teachers.
The spiritual environment at Chinmaya has to be the most positive thing at Chinmaya. The daily chants, experiencing the vibrations of Om every day is rare, be it the specific mantras or having us read the Gita, that isn’t going to be available anywhere nor is the peace that comes along with it comparable to anything.
Q: You got admission in Chinmaya as a science student and then decided to switch to Arts section . It was a very big decision. Did you ever regret your decision?
A: No, I don’t even have 0.001% regret about the decision. In fact, I feel very happy that I took that decision. It might have been a difficult decision for others, but that wasn’t the case for me – I was convinced that science just wasn’t for me.
Q: How long were you in Science stream?
A: Maybe 3 or 4 days.
Q: And that much time was sufficient for you to get convinced that science was not going to work out for you?
A: Yes
Q: And along with science, did you take math or biology?
A: I had Maths
Q: How was your transition from Holy Cross to Chinmaya? Did you have any adjustment issues?
A: It was quite smooth. I found the facilities to be quite good, be it in terms of books and newspapers; or about their efforts to address our concerns; or sometimes getting them to organize tests. As for adjusting with the students, that experience was also good because I had a friendly relationship with all the students in the class, I never got a sense that anyone spoke to me with an attitude or hatred. The students were also very supportive, be it about notes, or doubts/discussions or working together on projects. Everything went along very swiftly and I did not have any issues with adjustment.
Q: Your favorite subject, I know, is political science. Why do you like it so much?
A: Not sure, but when I read that subject, I get an odd sense of interest in it. It is about everything that is actually happening around us. When I read about governance, parliamentary systems or elections – I get to experience all those things happening around us on a day to day basis. For example during Bihar elections, I got to see how things that I have only read in books actually happen in reality. When I make that link, I get a feeling that I like the subject.
Q: Any incidences you want to share that you found inspiring in your 11th/12th journey …something that changed you in a big way?
A: Two incidences. First, as I have already mentioned, was 30th May 2018 when I interviewed with Ashok sir, as I was leaving the school I got a feeling that God had set up everything for me. Despite not having the financial support to be able to afford studying at Chinmaya, all arrangements had been made by Him. That’s when my faith in myself, in my hard work and in God went up 10 fold. The benefits of working hard are proportional to the amount of efforts put in.
Second, when I changed streams from Science to Arts. Chinmoyee ma’am was quite supportive of the decision, saying that I should take up only what I enjoy. The response of teachers in the class was also very good. My conscious decision had to be brought to life, no matter what. .
Q: Any advice for the current 11th/12th students?
A: My advice for Arts students, specifically: Don’t doubt your conscious decision to study Arts. It isn’t wrong. Just study with earnestness. The perception that Arts students aren’t good at studies needs to be changed, and we are the only ones who can change it. Unless the output changes, the perception won’t change. A more general word of advice: in these Covid times, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the kids as to whether examinations will even take place or not, how well will they be able to connect with the teachers, group discussion during classes no longer are happening – just set your mind to knowing that the examinations will happen, no matter what. You just have to keep studying hard.
Q: Any suggestions on books to be read? Anything about success at exams?
A: For Arts students: for boards, NCERT. Everyone studies NCERT. But to go beyond that, notes are your personal asset. Make specific, short script notes. Notes will help you revise, and also give you an insight into how much and how well you have understood a specific topic. On top of that, prepare with previous years’ questions. Practice as much as possible. Practice makes a man perfect. That will also tell you how best to put down your responses and present yourself in the exam. It also helps put yourselves in the shoes of an examiner and predict which questions might be asked in specific chapters.
Q: When you used to practice, did you get someone to check your answers?
A: I used to have 3 phases in my studies: I’d start with book reading, then making notes and finally practicing questions. I would get 2 people to check my answers: one was the subject teacher, who I used to request to look into it when they had the time or when I turned in my copies. The other was to get Gautam bhaiya, who’s a year senior to me, to check my answers. I sent him my answers on Whatsapp, and he would give me insights into how to improve each question, which of my responses were good or if they needed improvement. And ma’am also would help out.
Q: By ma’am, you mean the subject teacher?
A: Yes. I used to get my history copy checked regularly. She would meticulously give me feedback on each of my answers. That helped me a lot.
Q: How often would you do this? Once a week, once a month?
A: This wasn’t necessarily scheduled. I used to go by chapters. When I finished reading a chapter, made notes on it and finally worked on responding to the questions, I would then go to ma’am to get her to check my responses. She was a big support.
Q: What’s the name of the history teacher?
A: Usha Varadharajan ma’am
Q: Didn’t you need to use this methodology of studying to other subjects, beyond history?
A: Yes, but history was important because you have to be able to present your answers well in history beyond just presenting facts. I also used this method for political science. Because of my interest in the subject, I had pretty good insight into it. So I would get my answers checked with Gautam bhaiya and that helped a lot. For economics, the answers tend to be more involving mathematical operations, not as detail-oriented as in history. There is no subjectivity, so I didn’t feel the need to get feedback as in the other courses. In English, all of 12th my performance wasn’t great. But in the last 2 months – January and February – I worked very hard at the subject. I analyzed where my efforts were lacking or inadequate in each of the sections – reading, writing, literature. Then I worked most rigorously at English in the last 2 months. I made a lot of notes – I practiced 15 note-making, I wrote 15-20 notices, 15-20 essays, practiced 15-20 questions from the literature section – made model answers for each of them. At the end of the day, I also paid attention to how much time I was taking in each of the 3 sections. I had set for myself a limit of finishing the reading section in 50 minutes, writing section in 1 hour 20 minutes and the rest of the time for literature section. At the end, I also wanted to leave myself 5 minutes to be able to revise all of my answers. Luckily things worked out just as planned in the exam hall and I was also left with sufficient time to revise my answers. But all of this takes a lot of pre-planning.
Q: So all teachers have always been supportive throughout the process?
A: Yes. I missed talking about sociology. I followed the same pattern – book reading, note making and practicing questions – and showed my responses to sir. He would give me the feedback on my responses, like in the other courses. So you need to know how to integrate reaching out to teachers in your strategy.
Q: So the onus falls on the students. If they don’t reach out to teachers, then teachers can’t help them.
A: Yes. Because in our batch, we had 49 students and teachers can’t be expected to reach out to each of us individually. They expect a certain maturity by the time we’re in 12th. So we have to reach out to the teacher.
Q: What are your strengths and your weakness?
A: My mother is my strength. In general terms as well as academic terms. On any given day if I didn’t perform well in an exam or if school was frustrating, I would come home and unload on mummy and share everything with her. Or if I wasn’t studying well, she would come and question about it. So her close guidance and support has been a big strength for me. As for weakness, I feel like I’m very emotional, so I often end up feeling like a weakling.
Q: What are your strengths and weaknesses, in an academic context?
A: Strength: 2 things – I am quickly able to establish links between a subject that I’m studying for the first time and something that I’ve already read in the same context in the past. We used to have group discussions in class – not just at Chinmaya but my earlier 2 schools also – we used to have the opportunity to share what we’ve learned or studied about a particular subject with others in the class so they could learn from us and get their doubts clarified. This would not only help them get clarity in the subject, but it would also help me revise the topic myself. So all the students in the class that had a doubt would always approach me to help them understand a topic. Our class teacher, Usha ma’am used to appreciate this a lot. It helped not only me, but also the other students in the class. Also soliciting immediate feedback from those that I’m teaching helped me understand which topics I needed to work more at to understand better myself. As for weakness, I’m not a voracious reader. People habitually consume a lot of text and books, which I can’t seem to be able to do much myself.
Q: You had gotten into the habit of reading newspapers, right?
A: Yes, but I couldn’t keep up with it. I used to run into issues with my laptop. A lot of students in my class used to read a lot of novels, which helped them improve their English comprehension, word power and speaking skills. I haven’t been able to inculcate that into myself to this day.
Q: Are you talking about non-academic/general reading, or academic? If you’re given a non-NCERT book in a subject of your liking, would you have trouble getting interested in it? Or is it only non-academic books that you have trouble with?
A: No no, I will definitely be interested in books related to history, political. science. or economics. But even the academic books I can’t sustain for long hours, like 5-6 hours. After an hour or two of reading the mind feels the need to rest.
Q: What are your plans for now, and what have you planned for the future?
A: I’ve covered 2 rungs of the ladder so far. Two more to go. One, to do my graduation (Undergrad) well. And finally, the big one, to crack UPSC exams. Thereafter, once I start working as an administrator, I have many ideas and plans that I’d like to work on. For example, I want to set up an NGO that will help mobilize education to make it accessible to children living in remote areas. To provide healthcare and nutrition to them. I’d like to be able to do all these things, at least on a personal level.