Few great men

In my life so far, I have seen quite a few great men in the making. In order to hide their true identity, I'll use their initials while describe them. All those who can identify them, enjoy; all those who can't identify them, enjoy all the same.

Great Man 1:

It was the summer of 2001 when I met this great man for the first time. PR was a frail and extremely ordinary looking boy who was to be my coaching institute batchmate for the next two years. The first year went by without anybody thaking notice of this chap. I however noticed him getting the highest marks in Maths and Physics in the quizzes and phase tests on a few occasions. Our batch there was by far the best amongst all the batches in that insitute and getting the highest marks in that batch in any component was an achievement in itself. Coming back to PR, people hardly heard him talking in class when all the students used to solve the challenging questions given to them and the first one to solve them was the one who got a look of admiration from the instructor. So the whole batch, barring a few who knew how good he was, was taken by surprise when he topped in the phase test of phase 4. And not only did he have the higest total, he had the highest individual total in all the three subjects, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Suddenly the attitude of the instructors towards him also changed. Our Chemistry sir, who's the only Chemistry god I've ever seen, used to ask him the answers of the questions which no one else could solve and inevitably, PR would have the answer to his questions. It was no surpise from thereon that he got a minimum of 99.99 percentile in all the All-India Test series that were held thereafter! He went on to get an All-India rank 4 both in screening and mains in IIT JEE 2003. He, till date happens to be amongst the most intelligent yet the most humble person I've ever come across.

Great Man 2 :

I met this great man in the same place and around the same time as PR, great man 1. This guy, PA happens to be amongst the most lazy yet intelligent people I've ever come across. The first time I spoke to him was on a crowded bus on my way back home from the institute. He seemed to be bit different from the other people in the batch as he had shifted to Delhi from Lucknow a few months back. He was a Lucknowi to the core; a highly cultured person who used tum instead of the usual tu used by my other friends. He uttered on abusive word that was used freely by him whenever he was angry and that word was Jaahil which basically is a Hindi word for rustic. I got to know that he stays very close to my home and we used to go back home together from that day onwards. His policy was never to study on a sunday after coming back from the institute. He used Sunday evenings as leisue time even if there was an exam the next day. He was a physics god and was great at finding mistakes in the solutions provided to us after every test. It was not at all a surprise when he got AIR 131 in IIT JEE 2003. 3.5 years hence, he was a BLACKI (a term used for people with calls from all the IIMs) in CAT 2006 and needless to say converted all of them except L; reason being his inability to go for the GD/PI! This lazy yet intelligent guy, PA is as humble as PR. He's left a mark in my life as a person who knows how to balance his life impeccably.

Great Man 3 :

I met this great man, TVS in the year 1997 when I wnt to my sixth and final school. This guy is the best mathematical brain I've ever come across. He made it a norm not to return empty-handed from any Mathematics Talent test and if possible, get the first prize in almost all of them. He is extremely down-to-earth and is like a brother to me. He was one of the top 30 mathematical brains in India that appeared in National mathematical olympiad 2001. He went to Mumbai for the training and a chance to be a part of the Indian team going to represent India in the international Mathematical olympiad in 2002, but sadly could not be a part of the team because of the presence of a few better brains! It was not a surprise again that he got AIR-169 in IIT JEE 2003. He's a genius pesonified who remains oblivious of his surroundings. An example of this is "Aata, biscuit, cigerette ki company mein engineer jaakar kya karega?" in respose to my answer to his question "Dipu, tuney ITC ka naam suna hai?" He still is a very nice and shy guy but is definitely changing for the good and getting a bit more aware of his surroundings.

I'll carry on with this and my next edition would be on the greatest man I know of.