As a student I feel proud to say that I am a Dakshana scholar. Dakshana Foundation is the best platform for an IIT aspirant like me who is from a backward community as from a poor background.
I am from ?Pampady? a small village in Kerala and I belong to schedule cast. My father?s name is Mani I. A. he is a shopkeeper, earning Rs 500/- per month. My mother?s name is Usha Mani. She is a housewife and I have one sister. Her name is Sneha Mol she is studying in 9th class. Me and my family live in Kangazha. We have and owned home in 3 cent. You can imagine the lifestyle of a family with monthly income Rs 500/-.
Upto 5th class I studied in government school (Upper Primary) to my village and in 5th class. I appeared in Navodaya Entrance Exam and I got selected into ?Jawahar Novodaya Vidyalaya, Kottayam?. JNV is also a good institution for backward people. It is running by Central Government of India. I got selected into Navodaya on June 31st, 2004. I passed the Dakshana Foundation Exam because I am Navodayan. I will fail in my duty if I didn?t express my courtesy to JNV.
I have appeared in the Dakshana Foundation program on 19th July 2009. In Bangalore Rural Navodaya exam was fully based on 10th class syllabus. I was very much with question paper which contained all the gradients to test both intelligence and mental ability of a student. I got selection in Dakshana Foundation on 19th August. I was very much surprised by hearing this news because I never thought o could getthis kind of an opportunity in my life. To be honest I heard the name IIT in 9th class for the first time (in my life). I know many people who are ready to pay or paying lakhs of rupees for IIT JEE coaching. So, I never thought that I could get this kind of coaching and without paying any money. My aim is to become a Mechanical Engineer.
For the Dakshana training, we have to stay in Bangalore for 2 years far far away from my home. But accomodation was not so difficult because we are staying in another Navodaya Vidyalaya in Bangalore Urban. I am thankful to Miss Anuradha, Principal of JNV Bangalore Urban for giving this kid of accomodation for us. I came to jnvbu on 28th August. The facilities provided by Dakshana was beyond my imagination. Here we got students of 2nd batch of Dakshana Foundation. Here experiences also surprised me and the excellent performance of 1st batch of students of Dakshana gave me lot of confidence for IIT JEE examination. Here the coaching is provided by TIME Institution and their excellent faculty members. Our seniors are very helping and they give us support. TIME faculties are very much experienced and made excellent results through these students. About 40 books are provided from TIME institution apart from that Dakshana is also providing about 50 books for us which are wrote by excellent professors for IIT JEE exam. They also provide mental support for us. We are satisfied with the faculties provided by Dakshana. Their main advantage is that we can concentrate more on studies without any disturbances and we can reach our aim easily.
I am ready to work hard for IIT JEE and I an determined for that. I am thankful to all the members behind this institution. I think we can crack the exam in 2011 and I can realise my aim to become a Mechanical Engineer now.

From JNV Kottayam, Kerala.
Coaching Location: JNV Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka. (IIT-JEE 2009-11).

Current Institute: NIT Surathkal, Karnataka
Stream: Mechanical Engineering
Yr of expected graduation: 2015

Note: This is the exact reproduction of the essay sent to us.