Did you know that your friend and her mother have started Yoga to deal with the stress of FITJEE*? If it gets them fit, that will mean 50% success.
Get it? No?
Aaah… let me explain… see FITJEE consists of two parts: FIT and JEE that when juxtaposed form what is in the modern world the moral equivalent of the Gulag and Paradise all rolled into one. The former, the pain of endless repetition of Free-body diagrams on foolscap paper; the latter, the Golden ticket to millionaire dreams and endless servings of chocolate ice-creams. If one attained FIT’ness, but didn’t make the JEE that would be 50% success since FIT and JEE are both 3 letters long which is 50% of the total of 6. Q.E.D.
The above may seem flippant or cynical but the underlying truth is even more bitter. For 3-4 years our youth devote endless hours trudging to special classes, solving problems in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in the hope of cracking that grueling examination we have to come to know as the JEE. An examination that yields a numerical value that serves as a life-long badge of honor for the lucky few who make it. For the rest this examination is simply the first reality check on several dimensions - IQ, focus, ambition.
But does it matter that much really? I claim rank #2004 in the JEE of 1987 - they declared 2003 ranks if I recall correctly:-) I went to BITS Pilani, the other premier Engineering college of our day. Of course there were the REC's, Roorkee, Guindy, and many more of that ilk. But the sting of not making it to the IIT's remained with us for a long time. It began to wear off only when we realized that life was so much more than what examinations measure. I have had several IIT'ians as my colleagues and friends, very smart many of them, very focused most of them, very normal all of them. I feel strongly that the IIT's have their rightful place in our education system.
Yet many other avenues exist for pursuing our dreams. It is not the be-all-end-all by any means. People spark to their potential at all stages of their life. Not everyone needs to spark on that day.
* Its really FIITJEE but that doesn't change the rest...