"Praveen, have you done your homework?". "No mom! I am not interested in studying! I don't want to do it!" This used to be the typical conversation between my mother and me when I was in class eight. I had no interest in academics, and I had decided to be a cricketer and don the Indian jersey like Sachin Tendulkar.

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One day my mother invited Shaikh Sir home, and entrusted him with the task of teaching me concepts in Physics, Chemistry, and Math. Initially, I hesitated attending his class and I'd find excuses to bunk it. Gradually, things started changing. The way he explained the concepts, and showed how everything manifested in the physical world, caught my attention. I started developing an intense curiosity, and soon it started becoming an enjoyable experience to see how some complex equations on paper translated to beautiful theorems and laws which governed the world around us.I also started participating in many competitive exams and science Olympiads. My school - Kendriya Vidyalaya IIT Powai, is located in the IIT Campus and I used to attend TechFest, a technology festival organised by the students of IIT Bombay. I wanted to become 'like' them and study in India's premier institute for engineering. Once I completed my class ten board exams, I was sure that I wanted to prepare for the JEE.But I had to take a very important decision at that point – to either continue in a conventional school, or get admission in a junior college and attend the IIT coaching classes in the evenings, or to enroll myself in an integrated programme which had IIT coaching and junior college, all under one roof.

Bala uncle, my guide for everything in life, helped me in making a decision by clearly stating out the pros and cons of each option. With the conventional school option, I would get a more all-round education with the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities (which I was very fond of) and a comparatively less time for IIT preparation. I thought about it and decided to join the integrated coaching and was ready to sacrifice the conventional college education.So that was it. I started my class eleven in the Pace integrated coaching centre. I did well in the first couple of tests, but my performance kept fluctuating. I felt very dejected and started studying a lot more. But again Bala uncle taught me a very important lesson - the two-year IIT-JEE preparation is like a marathon. There's no use putting too much effort in the beginning and getting burned out towards the end. He said that it was important to peak at the right time. I also learned to focus on concepts, rather than on short-cuts to solve problems. These words of wisdom helped me endure these two tough years.Praveen Sriram is pursuing his third year in Electrical Engineering at IIT Mumbai.