“Life’s battle don’t always go
to the stronger or faster man But soon or late the man who wins
is the man who thinks he can.”
On 4th July 2020 we the students of class 11th of Mustifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School had a great privilege and opportunity to have virtual interaction session with a thoughtful, knowledgeable and a Dynamic personality who is also the son of the our soil. That personality is none other than Mr. Dinar Bhatkar.
The session started with Director at MAHSS Mr. Vyankatesh Prabhudesai giving a brief introduction of our guest. Mr. Dinar Bhatkar has the distinctive accomplishment of being the only Goan to become Member of Board of Governors at IIT Bombay till date. He was an alumnus of IIT Bombay (B.Tech in Civil Engineering). Currently he is managing director of DCSTS Pvt. Ltd. He is a recipient of Distinguished service award from IIT Bombay in 2001 and also a close friend of our Director. After a warm welcome from our director he started interaction with us which enlightened our budding minds.
The key topic of the interaction was “integration of our efforts”. At the start Mr. Bhatkar praised our Director at Aryaans for generating alumni who made a mark not only in Goa but at National and International levels. He then gave us brief information about the various IITs in India, the old as well as the new ones. Though being a virtual interaction he indulged the atmosphere by sharing humorous tale happened with his friend, the ex-Chief minister Late Manohar Parrikar in context of IIT and ITI. By this anecdote he spoke on the progress made by Goa from not having a centre for IIT entrance during his time to having an IIT Itself in Goa. Once considered an unachievable dream, getting into IIT has become a possibility for Goan students in modern times. He made a statement that we all are very lucky to be in a favourable environment having our parents and teachers as motivation to join IIT. He motivated us further by highlighting the importance of this prestigious institute, its hostel facilities, activities and research projects going on 24 by 7 and also about kind of atmosphere in IIT as compared to any other colleges.
He gave us an example of a young local boy who cracked IIT entrance and whose parents not had the means for his education in IIT though being the cheapest institute in India in context of fees. Then his education at IIT was founded by Corporate of Goa. ‘The boy’s biggest ticket was his All India Rank in JEE’ these were the words of Mr. Bhatkar which raised our spirits to crack JEE.
Then Mr. Bhatkar returned to the actual theme of the interaction “Integration”. He said that the best and also healthy competition is the competition with self. Competition with the self let you grow without any negative emotions. He remarked that 2% should be our way of life. In every test or exam we should improve by 2%. That small improvements test by test will take you to the top without even noticing a big change.
He quoted a prayer..
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things which I cannot change and courage to change the things I can, wisdom to know the difference between what I can and what I cannot.”
He simplified it as ‘one cannot change aspects like height, skin complexion, his background, But can change his skill set, ability to learn, methods to learn and most importantly attitude towards learning. He conveyed us that to be successful we have to be honest in every aspect of our life by an incident that happened in IIT in a humorous manner.
“Honesty is the best policy.”
After that began the much awaited Question and Answers session. Mr. Bhatkar enthusiastically answered all the questions about the various aspects of the IITs and also emergence of IITs in India, which were asked by our Director and students. In answering one of the questions he spoke on the progress of 2nd– Generation IITs that are competing with original IITs. Also he voiced on the Progress of IIT Goa where the students are getting exposure to technology in Goa. Also he signified the syllabus level in IITs as compared to any other institutes. This took our motivation to the next level. Thus, ended a truly interesting and inspiring interactive session.
gib nie auf (Never give up)
Truly Mr. Bhatkar a humble role model, taught us that we can achieve whatever we want if only we believe in ourselves and work hard for it. We are thankful to our Director Vyankatesh Prabhudesai for inviting Mr. Dinar Bhatkar whose words of wisdom raised our determination. I also thank Mr. Bhatkar for taking time out of his busy schedule, and inspiring us with his positive energy.
Suyash Prabhu Desai XI MAHSS