A STUDENT'S LIFE IN KOTA 

“The education hub of India”, ”The city of students”, whatever one may call it implies to only a single city, Kota. Situated on the bank of river Chambal and getting it’s fame from one of it’s first coaching institutes BANSAL Classes is a place where students from all over India unite to acquire knowledge, simply speaking to crack some of the top exams of the country like NEET (National Eligibility and Entrance Test) and JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) and cherish their dreams of becoming DOCTORS and ENGINEERS and settle in their career. Staying in such a city you can experience a lot more emotions than you can think of. Being a student myself I am going to share my personal experience with you all.

Being located in the state of Rajasthan one of the most obvious picture of the city that most newcomer students get in their minds is it being surrounded by sand dunes of the Great Thar Desert, but reality is something very different. Kota has its very own Railway Station, but no airport( nearest is the Jaipur International Airport). So the only means to come here is by road or by railways.

The moment you enter the city all you can see is huge concrete buildings but no sand. Reaching the city one of the first concerns that the students have is to find a place to live. This is easily solved by a number of agents that can be found near any coaching institute or the railway station. All you need is to look for a group of people with bikes gathered at one place. Apart from this one can also directly approach the coaching institute he or she is going to take admission in or directly reach out for a hostel. Regarding the place of accommodation students can choose among a variety of options. They can opt for hostels (separate for girls and boys), PGs as well as shared flats. Many students prefer to stay with their mothers can also get flats on rental.  The next important thing for the students is to take admission in any coaching institutes. Speaking of coaching institutes the city has the largest cluster of in all over India. Starting from some of the renowned institutes like Bansal classes, Allen, Akaash, Resonance etc. to a number of regional institutes the city offers a large range of choices to the students depending upon the career they want to pursue. Now the last arrangement that one needs to make is the food. Students can opt either for a home delivery service or a mess. For students living with their family they can also rent kitchenware and cook themselves.    This all leads to the beginning of a journey filled with stress, struggle and enlightment. Every morning you can see flooding  of students on the streets wearing the uniforms given by their institutes (This is the easiest way to know the institute one is studying) . The similar situation goes throughout the afternoon as the students continue to leave for their respective institutes. For the first few months students do this happily, but as the time passes by soon this enthusiasm of the students is overhauled by monotony. The only time the students are energetic is during the evening when they return from their respective institutes and gather in the various messes to have their dinner and share their daily experiences with each other. You can easily hear the sound of laughter and discussion whenever you cross any of the messes. But all this fun is usually missed out by those students who opt for home delivery or cook themselves. But if we speak about the most energetic day of the week we can speak about no other day than the Sundays. Every Sunday evening one can see enormous amount of students both girls and boys mostly in groups roaming about on the streets. This gives them a short break and relief from the stress they have to go through the week studying for a competitive exam. During this time you can see a large number fast food stalls on either side of road overflowing from the crowd of students eating and chatting in front of them.    Apart from this if you are looking for some more refreshment then the city also offer a lot of places for short visits. This includes a number of gym parks where students, parents as well as the local residents can be seen walking, chatting and playing during mornings, evenings and weekends. The city also have some of most attractive destinations like “ Seven Wonder Park”, “Kota Garh Palace”, “Chambal Garden”, “Kota Barrage”, ”Khade Ganesh Ji Temple”, “Kota Hanging Bridge” and many more. The city also has a number of shopping malls and cinema malls which are the destination of a number of students during the weekends and mostly the practice tests. The wide and clean roads of the city are mostly filled with auto rickshaws as well as OLA, UBER and RAPIDO, which offer easy transportations within the city.    The only time the city seems to be empty is during the Diwali holidays as most of the students return to their homes after a long times. But apart from this the city always seems to be full of energy even during the nights (as most students like to study in the silence of night). The energy level of the city reaches another level during the eve of New Year. A number of concerts and fairs take place throughout the night. You can hear loud screams of students all night even from your room. But the craziest among all this festivals is the festival of Holi. From early morning you can see students playing with water and gulal. By the end of the day all you see is groups of students throwing colours on each other and among the boys tearing each other’s t-shirts. The next day all you see is the streets covered with colours and torn t-shirts. Also every year many institutes host a annual day and celebrate with students.    Talking about the climate all I can see is that it is usually bearable. Since it is in Rajasthan, so most people may think that the temperature is too hot, but actually it is moderate. The rainy season sometimes even fill the lower parts of city with water. But the amusing fact is that the winter seasons are a bit harsh. The temperature of the nights in this season may drop down to 3-4 degrees.    Finally after all this the environment of Kota gradually tenses as the final exams come closer. Students can be seen doing their final revisions. Most institutes complete their syllabuses and start taking tests. Many students join libraries where a number students can study together and discuss their problems with each other.    Although staying away from homes for about a year, may seem difficult, but the rich experience one gets after staying here can guide them the rest of their lives. As it is said “ Most people who got success in their lifes had to leave their homes in their early years”. This gives them an encounter with harsh realities of life. Although the city offers a lot to students but as every other place the students here too may get distracted and lose their of life. But regarding this the teachers usually can help. Being the only guardian to the students they can also help the students to get back to their proper track of life. Thus according to me Kota is a place where the dreams of most of the students can come true and also they can learn a lot of skills which they can use in the future.