For some, high school is the best phase of life …for others, not so much! High school is confusing. ‘It’s the best of the time and the worst of the time” as Charles Dickens would say. You hate it but you don’t hate it. At least that’s how it was for me. Like most of the Indian kids, I was also preparing for JEE and other entrance exams. Assignments, social politics in school, parent’s expectations, exam stress……you get it right!
Last night my cousin asked me about those two years of my life in Kota and whether he should go there or not. For what twisted reason, did he think I’m the perfect person to take advice from? I pretty must wasted all of my high school there and boy! what a fun it was, not to mention, very self-illuminating as well. There was A LOT to say so naturally, I kept mum.
I stayed in Kota for 2 years. Luckily, I got into a nice govt. college (not IIT tho!) that saved me from dropping out after 12th class. I’ve lived a complete Kota life from surviving as an insanely distracted teenager to emerging as a super focused student. I should’ve given at least some answer to my cousin (I still think he could’ve asked a better student or some topper). Never mind, now I’m writing every answer here, in hope that my cousin will somehow get to this page after incessantly reading all the Quora answers.
This will be a 3 part series on Kota life, addressing 3 major topics:
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Kota lifestyle and distractions
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Mental health/suicides
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Is going to Kota worth it?
(NOTE: If I get lost in the flow of writing and start giving you advices, please take them with a pinch of salt ’cause who made me an expert? )
PART 1:
Living Alone –
There are two types of kids – one who misses their parents after leaving home and others who rejoice at the very thought of it. I belonged to the latter kind. So it wasn’t big of a deal for me. Sometimes I feared that it’d make me feel sad, watching my hostel friends cry every time they called their parents, but nay! never happened. Still, I must tell you that it sucks for many people. I’ve seen girls going back to their hometown within 3 months – sometimes because they miss their parents, sometimes ‘cuz they miss the comfort of home and other times they’d just fall sick. I felt like going back home once, when two lizards invaded my washroom and stayed there for a week during summer. Goodbye, long relaxing showers! 🙁
Staying in Kota alone, on your own, needs crazy survival skills. Not kidding! Eating in a hostel mess is a struggle in itself and then doing your own laundry. I changed my hostel twice in a year before I finally got myself an affordable 1RK pg room. Finding a decent stay is going to be a challenge anyway. In the second hostel they provided laundry services and I got chickenpox ‘cuz all our clothes were washed together and one of the girls was infected. Anyway….I thought shifting to a PG would be the end of all my problems but I was wrong ’cause then began the search for tiffin services and maid. I finally decided to quit on a maid search and clean on my own, it was easier. All this hassle for just surviving, we are yet to talk about studies and coaching.
We walked/cycled to reach our coaching institutes and then climbed 5 floors (cuz elevators were reserved for faculty only) to sit in class with approx. 100-150 students for 5-6 hours every day. All this during the extreme summer and winter days of Kota. O bap rey! Kota ka climate!!
What else, did I mention water? Yeah…it’s even hard to adjust yourself to the water of Kota. I think I lost half of the hair on my head by the end of my high school.
Aur batau ya mann bhar gaya..?
By the way, living alone has its own perks and the biggest benefit is that you get to find your true self, away from your micromanaging parents. For me, I finally confirmed my all-time big doubt about whether I’m gay or straight (…turns out I’m neither. All hail to fluidity! ). Not only that, I realized how utterly calm and patient I can be when away from my family and also, that I’m not as smart as I thought I was. I wonder what kind of a person would I’ve been today had I not gone to Kota and stayed back in my hometown to enjoy the comfort of being a local all-rounder student status.
Distractions –
To be clear, the majority of the students in Kota study really hard (‘burning the midnight oil’ kinda hard), instead of wasting their time the way I’m going to mention below. Honestly, I can never understand how those kids manage to never get distracted. I guess the key is to not get too involved in anything or with anyone.
Now truth be told, there are many distractions…SO MANY! In my first hostel, I made too many friends too quickly. The madness that followed after that was out of control, IT WAS FUN! and I decided to move to a new hostel just to avoid my newfound social circle. In second hostel, began the most confusing phase of my love life and it was all my fault. Every single chaos was created by me. Long story, some other time (or maybe never).
While we’re on topic of distractions and fun, lemme recommend some tasty food. Try kachoris of Kota and also order yourself some food from Amar Punjabi Dhaba. Kota gaye aur APD ka khana nahi khaya to kya JEE/NEET ki taiyari ki!
As if being a teenager is not a distraction in itself, Kota is full of mobile movie shops (seriously, you get any movie in ultra HD for as low as 5-10 rs.) and then there are places to hang out and kill time. I’ve watched every movie that interested me and I’ve visited every place known to us as outsiders. Roaming in the city mall and friends’ bazaar was part of our evening stroll ritual. I should’ve been studying instead of frolicking around like an aimless puppy. No doubt mothers tag along with their kids when they come to Kota.
It was in 12thclas when I finally got on track when my batch downgraded from A3 to A8 and started focusing on studies ‘cuz now I was afraid of not getting into any college. I gradually cleaned the mess of my dating life as well, cleaned it so well I’m still single -_-
Fear does work like a motivation sometimes! It finally paid off, what a relief it was. That self-control you learn at this age sticks with you for the rest of your life. Take my word for it or don’t, it is what it is.
I feel like this is getting very lengthy. See you next time in the next part.