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“As ironic as it may sound now, I hated Maths as a kid; it reflected in my early school grades. It was only after I joined DPS that I began enjoying Mathematics. My school teachers helped me understand the logic behind the subject and slowly but steadily, I fell in love with it. However, I didn’t have a strong plan for my academic career then.

Given my decent performance in Standard XII board exams and my passion for Maths, I ended up taking a Bachelor’s in the same at Delhi University: a place which made me appreciate the subject even more. During my second semester, I remember how I was reading in the library when someone came and informed me that I had topped the University exams. I didn’t know how to react. My father, however, was extremely proud of me and was almost in tears when I told him about it. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered that my college had the best Maths faculty in DU.

One of my professors suggested that I should apply for IISER for further studies; I didn’t know what IISER was at that point . The decision to opt for an integrated program, which would increase my cumulative investment in Maths to over six years, was overwhelming. However, I listened to my inner self and decided to go with the flow.

I had my train to Chandigarh from Delhi. I arrived late and assumed that the train had left. Feeling helpless, I was about to return when I heard the announcement that the train was about to leave in a few minutes. For the first time in my life, I ran for my life to catch the train. It was a typical bollywood-like scene. As I stepped into the IISER-Mohali campus, I was taken aback. The ambience and infrastructure of the institute made me fall in love with it. But, at the same time, I was unsure if I would get an admission there as it seemed like a far-fetched dream. I had to return to Delhi the very next day because of my final semester examination. I was hanging out at CCD with one of my friends when IISER’s results came out. My friend saw the list of selected candidates and told me that I had been accepted. I couldn’t believe him. I must’ve asked him a million times to confirm if the news were true.

Before joining IISER-M, I had some free time and so I decided to teach Maths at an orphanage in my village. The situation there was dire. There was no class demarcation and every kid was in the same class…