With discipline and determination, two young Kashmiris topped a competitive examination. Junaid Nabi Bazaz talks with Mir Majid and Bazillah Bilal, both of whom say there are a few simple rules to follow—in order to achieve success.
Passion, dedication and hard work—those are the elements that Mir Wajid attributes to hissuccess. He has topped the Jammu and Kashmir Common Entrance Test (JKCET), scoring 94 percent in the competitive examination.
Mir studied at the public English medium school in his village, and then went on to pass his secondary school exams from the government higher secondary school in Wandelvalgam with 428 marks. He scored 628 marks in 12th standard from Hista Higher Secondary School.
This was the second time Mir was attempting the JKCET. He first appeared in 2011, scored 57 percent and failed. But that didn’t deter him from his mission. Instead, he remained focused and moved to Rajasthan for coaching. It wasn’t easy, and eventually the intense heat of Rajasthan and his poor health forced him to return to Kashmir.
“Despite that I was not discouraged,” says a bespectacled, bearded Mir.
Mir began to deliberate with his father, relatives and friends. “What to do and how to do were the questions I pondered over at that time,” he recalls. “Finally, I decided to go to Jammu for coaching.”
Struggling for an education was not new to him. In 11th and 12th, Mir stayed in a rented house, as school and tuitions were far from his remote hamlet of Wandevalgam of district Anantnag. The unrest of 2009 and 2010 only increased problems for him. He traveled determinately on foot for five months of the 2010 unrest.
“During those days, I had to travel 16 km by foot in order to reach the tuitions center. Whenever I was stopped by Indian forces, I took help from security guards of nearby State Bank,” Mir said with a grin.
Mir started preparing for the entrance when he got into 11th. He focused on understanding the concepts rather than cramming. He did well in the examinations by reading only NCERT prescribed text books. “Without clearing the concepts it is impossible to crack the entrance. And instead of going to many books, I preferred text books as examiner does not ask anything more than that,” he says.
Mir is also an avid book reader. Although he reads books on diverse subjects, his particular taste is in Urdu literature. His hobby is to play cricket, and so far he has refrained from using any social networking site. “I am a bit different from other students so I prefer other things over social networking sites,” he said
He credits his success to his parents, teachers and uncle, without whom Mir says such a feat could not have been possible. “Their support played a crucial role in my success,” he says.
For students, Mir suggests, they need to have a proper understanding of the subject material, read between the lines and explore text books. “Students should be focused, read every minute detail of the book and forget cramming,” he advises.
The JKCET triumph is just the beginning of success in his life. Mir says he hopes that with hard work, there will be many more to come.
CONFIDENCE IS KEY
Bazillah Bilal dreamt of becoming social activist. But when her father told that she has to become a doctor she left her dream and began pursuing that of her father’s.
“My grandfather’s dream was to make his son (my father) a doctor. But my father could not make it in the open merit. So in order to fulfill his dream I took it as a mission to make it true,” Bilal says.
Bilal is the third topper in the JKCET, scoring 92 percent. She is from a remote village in district Anantnag. She passed her secondary examination from Al-Saiwat Convent School and 12th from Higher Secondary Marhama.
Bilal would study for ten to eleven hours a day while preparing for the exam. She says her success is not just a result of her hard work, but confidence as well. The credit of her success, she says, goes to Allah, her parents and teachers. “My success is because of them. Without them the feat would not have been possible in the least,” say says.
She says Kashmiri students do not lack any talent; all they need is to boost their confidence. “There were many friends of mine who studied more than I but failed to qualify the exam. The reason behind their failure was lack of confidence,” Bilal says.
Her parents say that she has worked very hard for what she has achieved and Allah has been very kind to her and all of them.
“She is a very dedicated girl and Allah has rewarded her for the hard work she has put in to achieve her goal,” says her father, Bilal Ahmad Vaid.
great guy