‘I came to IIT doubting myself. I leave motivating thousands of students’ | Life in an IIT

Growing up in Hyderabad

My father is a manager at a construction firm, and my mother is a homemaker. I did my Class 10 and intermediate at Sri Chaitanya in Hyderabad. Growing up, I was self-driven and independent by nature – those were not traits I developed at IIT; they were what took me there in the first place.

What I miss most about home is the food, and the kind of comfort that only your own house provides. Some things are irreplaceable, no matter how much your college eventually starts to feel like a second home.

JEE journey: No coaching, and a brother

I prepared for JEE entirely from home, without any coaching institute. My brother was my anchor through all of it. We studied together through the night, night after night; he sat with me through every session, kept pushing when I slowed down, and refused to let the momentum drop. I have said this plainly before, and I mean it completely: it was my brother who craved my success more than I did, at least in those months. Whatever I achieved belongs to him as much as it belongs to me.

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The biggest challenge was not the syllabus or the competition; it was consistency. Staying consistent across months of exhaustion is a different kind of difficulty that is hard to describe until you have lived it. Watching classmates who were not preparing, who seemed to be moving through life freely while I was at a desk at 3 in the morning, that was disheartening on certain days.

There were stretches where self-motivation simply was not enough. My family, and my brother above all, were what filled that gap every time.

Sacrificing the branch for the IIT

During counselling, I applied for Computer Science Engineering (CSE), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Electrical Engineering (EE). I was allotted Electrical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad. I had wanted CSE or AI, but the decision, when it came to it, was clear. I chose to sacrifice my preferred branch for the IIT. Getting to IIT Hyderabad was the goal, and I held that above everything else.

That choice ended up shaping the next four years in ways I could not have predicted because what I found at IITH had very little to do with which department my name was filed under.

First time away from home

I joined IIT Hyderabad in 2023. It was the first time I had lived away from home, and being alone was genuinely unsettling in the beginning. I called my mother every day, mostly to complain – about the food, the hostel, the distance. I still remember one evening when I broke down entirely on a phone call with her. The next day, she was at my door. She walked into my room and gave me a firm, clear instruction: stop feeling alone, take the initiative, go speak to people, make friends.

That is exactly what I did. And it changed everything.

I became part of several clubs and student initiatives at IITH, with most of my involvement going into the rural development space, through Milan (the institute’s annual inter-hostel competition), Prayas (a rural education initiative) and Aksharadaan (an education-focused outreach initiative). Time management became non-negotiable: strict hours were set aside for assignments and exam preparation, and everything else was built carefully around that.

The work that has meant the most to me is with Aksharamaala (an online learning initiative for rural government-school students). I am currently leading the foundation’s efforts across Telangana, teaching underprivileged school students in online mode. What started as a club responsibility became something I think about well beyond campus hours. Every session is a reminder of why I wanted to come to an IIT in the first place: to eventually be in a position to give something back.

I have also organised campus tours for company heads and international delegates from Indonesia and Japan. Standing in those rooms, a girl from a middle-class Hyderabad family, hosting guests from across the world on an IIT campus, is the kind of thing that would simply not have been possible in most other settings. IIT gives you a platform whose scale you only fully understand once you are standing on it.

From self-doubt to motivating others

IIT Hyderabad transformed me in ways I had not planned for. I came in as someone who doubted herself. I leave as someone who stands in front of school students and speaks to them about what is possible. I have learned how to manage, how to lead, how to communicate, and, more quietly, how to believe that difficulty is not the same as impossibility.

The lesson I carry from here is the simplest one I know: nothing is impossible. It sounds easy to say, and it is genuinely hard to hold onto. Four years of being pushed well beyond what felt comfortable is what made me actually believe it.

For every girl reading this

One thing I want to say clearly: JEE competition is heavy, and even with reservation for girls, the mental strength required, and the household circumstances that either support or undermine it cannot always hold a young woman through the kind of preparation this exam demands. A supportive family means everything for a girl’s success. That support is not equally available to everyone, and the people who make it through without it deserve far more recognition than they receive.

When IIT is spoken about as an aspiration, the examples held up are almost always men. Women IITians have achieved enormously and continue to. Those stories need to be told more often, more loudly, and placed in front of young girls as real evidence of what is possible. I hope this is one of them.

Looking ahead

I am focused on roles in marketing and management, and also keeping central government positions as a serious option. The work I have done in rural development, logistics, hospitality, and mentoring young learners has made it clear to me that I want to be in spaces where I am contributing to people and to systems, not just to a balance sheet.

I came to IIT Hyderabad because I believed that education was the path to a life lived with dignity. Four years later, I believe that more than I ever did. But I have also learned that dignity is not only something you earn for yourself; it is something you can help build for others. That is the work I am only just beginning.