On June 15, all hard work of this tribal boy bore fruit

Hailing from a nondescript village of Kanneboinagudem, in Warangal district, for the son of an auto driver, life hasn’t been easy. Even with the odds stacked against him, B Dinesh never gave up. And on June 15 when the results for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were released, the teen understood that with determination and grit anything can be achieved. Dinesh, a Lambada, secured 55 all India rank.

A student of Telangana Tribal Welfare IIT Study Centre under the aegis of Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions (TTWREI) Society, Dinesh scored 94.97 percentile for the entrance exam that had only 700 seats for grabs. 

I was confident of cracking the test because I knew I had performed well. In fact, I had hoped for a rank in 40s. But 55 isn’t bad either

B Dinesh

Surprisingly, Dinesh had no knowledge about the AIIMS entrance until his mentors at Gurukula insisted that he prepare for it along with the other entrances. With no additional coaching facility, Dinesh spent several hours before and after class in self-study. “I did not do any special preparation for AIIMS. Along with the prescribed books, I diligently solved previous years’ AIIMS test papers every day. Self-study has worked for me,” he said.

Boy genius: Dinesh is a boy who really beat the odds  

While the TTWREI follows the state syllabus, all-India level entrances mostly follow CBSE syllabus. With the variation between the two syllabi being close to 15 per cent, Dinesh feels that it did act as an impediment to his performance. “I could attempt only 125 questions because the others were not from the syllabus we follow. For this reason, I feel colleges should include CBSE syllabus too. If I had little more idea, I would have scored even better,” he said.

Though Dinesh found Biology part of the test most easy, Physics was tough. Also unlike Eamcet where there is no concept of negative marking, Dinesh had to tackle this too on his own. “I had to keep in mind the marking pattern too. But I was sure of all the questions I had attempted,” he said.

Dinesh secured the least marks for General Knowledge, therefore, regrets not having prepared for the part 

Coming from a humble background, Dinesh’s father, an inter-pass and his mother a homemaker, made sure that their social and economic status never became a hurdle in their children’s education. Youngest of three siblings, Dinesh studied in a private school in Warangal till class 10. After that, he cleared the entrance for state-run residential Gurukula. With fees taken care of, Dinesh devoted all his energy and time to study. He would wake up at five in the morning and sleep at 11:30 at night. “My efforts have paid off. I am happy,” said Dinesh who wants to become a neurosurgeon.

I never felt stressed out over exams. I would also play cricket with friends and read the newspaper every day to relax

B Dinesh

He has a word of advice for those coming from underprivileged backgrounds. “Don’t be afraid of national-level competition. You have the capability to crack it, be it NEET or AIIMS.”