Life’s Turning Point: My 12th Journey

How a turning point comes at some point in life

So how do you imagine your life in 12th standard would like to be? Or how your life was back then? Well if I say of mine, I started my hostel journey after the 10th completing and getting good marks. After that, my parents thought that I should go to the hostel and complete my higher secondary at some good institution which will also give the edge to my IIT JEE preparation.
So everything happened as expected, Moving from home to the hostel was my first time also I had never seen any hostel till that time but listened to many fearer stories about that. So it was a feeling of both fear and excitement and I was thinking about what it would like to be?

The Day of Truth — Admission time

So I had reached the hostel, by that time my parents talked with many people about what is the process and how education will be there. It was like mixed both classes and hostel. On the lower floors, we had classes and on the upper floors, we have hostels. After many hours we had completed my admission process and they provided some books, no not actually some books a lot of books even I can’t able to take up in one go from 2nd floor to 4th floor.
I was thinking like is all these books are only for watching or do we have to read also….
Now they provided me with a room with an attached bathroom that contains 6–7 students each. I was shocked, I felt like is this really possible? But thinking about will see what will happen, I have arranged all the things from what they gave me, now it’s time for every student to say bye to their parents with the hope that they will pursue a better career in the future, I also met with my parents in reception, hug them and told goodbye.

What was the single day look like

Now things were different, it was not like previously when our mom keep shouting and we were still in bed, it was a different thing now, our warden comes at every day 5'o clock with a big stick and now you can imagine yourself what will happen then next…
Now the time was to go for breakfast and then directly for class completely from 6 am to 2 pm. So we started refreshing ourselves in a hope that we will sleep again in the next 1–2 hours.
After 2 pm with all such harsh subjects and studies we have to go for lunch and come for 3 pm to 5 pm again, they say as counseling hours and again 6 pm to 10 pm for self-study which was also mandatory. At the first time we felt like it was ok but after 1–2 months the situation got a little different, Some students wanted to leave due to very much tight schedules, many due to health issues and other reasons due to this I had also talked with my parents they understood me and told me “in starting it will be like this but the situation will pass”. Now the time passes many situations happened and went away some were good some were bad.
Rules were much tight, we need not have to keep mobile phones or any gadgets with us, we cannot go to our rooms during studying hours, everything has to be done in time. If you miss your lunch or your breakfast you have to regret then, Teachers were good but the books they gave to us were hard to get.
But apart from this we also had an outing with our friends on the last day of every month, on that day we felt like we are pigeons came from the cage and saw a new world.

The Last Day

Meanwhile, we completed our exams of 12th and now the real-time came for the most famous and life deciding exam according to elders and teachers was IIT JEE. We got center about 400 km away from our hostel so they managed some buses which will go at 4'o clock and will reach 8'o clock. So after 3–4 hours of journey, we came to know that day what is the importance of IIT JEE after seeing so many students from different colleges and different areas, some were studying and kept books in their hands till the entrance gate opened. After completing the exam I was pretty sure that I did not perform very well. Now we came to the hostel and on next day everyone started leaving my friends and I also left but we didn’t know at that time what we are missing when we reached home or would I say after leaving the hostel, the memories, the things we were enjoyed, the decision we took right or wrong are all kept passed away.

What I have got

Actually, If I say that part of my life was a great enhancement in my life will not be wrong although I wasn’t able to qualify for IIT JEE, sometimes I feel guilty but at last, the things matter what you are learning from all these, how these situations help to build someone life.
If I have to tell you something, I will tell you that once go to hostel life, the things you will see, the things you will feel from the harsh situations, friends you will make, the first time will be difficult but for a long time it benefits you and it’s not the case that every time you need to qualify IIT JEE for a better life, life’s get better by enjoying at that moment, with good friends and people, the memories you contain from your past.

The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt. — by Max Lerner

Thanks for reading!
Akash Shukla