A month had passed. My life at Allen Bhubaneswar had settled into a strange routine—wake up, attend classes, struggle with Physics, promise to study at night, and then fail to do so.
I thought I was finally getting comfortable. But then, my peaceful world was shattered.
---
The Arrival of the Roommates
It happened on a humid evening. I had just returned to my hotel room, exhausted from another day of pretending to understand rotational motion, when the hotel manager knocked on my door.
"Bhaiya, do aadmi aur aayenge aaj se yahan rukne ke liye."
I blinked. "Matlab?"
"Do naye roommates. Samajh lo, full room sharing."
Roommates? My stomach twisted. I had gotten used to having the room to myself.
Before I could react, two guys entered with their bags.
Sumit and Ritesh.
---
Sumit: The Silent Overachiever
Sumit was an average-looking guy with an average past. But there was one problem.
He had scored 507 in NEET.
Two hundred marks more than me.
I froze. My score was 307, but in embarrassment, I had told everyone it was 407.
Now, sitting in front of a guy who actually scored above 400, I felt my own lie choking me.
"Bhai, tumhara kitna aaya tha?" Sumit asked casually while unpacking.
I forced a smile. "Uhh… 407."
He nodded. “Nice, bro. At least tum 400 ke upar toh ho.”
I nearly choked on my own saliva. He just said ‘at least’?!
I smiled, nodding, while my soul left my body.
---
Ritesh: The Almost Topper
Then there was Ritesh.
He was tall, quiet, and had a deadly aura. The kind of guy who had a fixed schedule, highlighted notes, and zero-nonsense attitude.
His score?
600.
He had lost a government seat by just 45 marks.
And here I was, sitting with my fake 407 while an actual 600 sat across from me, lost in deep thought.
I felt like an undercover fraud.
"NEET diya tha na?" he asked, looking at me.
I swallowed. "Haan."
"Kitna aaya?"
My brain short-circuited.
Should I stick to my 407 lie? What if he asked for my marksheet? What if he compared my knowledge with Sumit's?
My mouth felt dry. “Uh… haan, bas thoda kam.”
He didn’t press further. He just nodded and continued unpacking his books.
Physics. Biology. Chemistry.
Thick, well-used books.
I gulped. I had never felt this academically small before.
---
The Night of Realization
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
My two new roommates were miles ahead of me.
One had crossed 500, and the other had touched 600.
And here I was, struggling to understand why acceleration due to gravity is negative.
For the first time, I realized how deep the gap was.
I had been treating NEET like a distant problem. Something to be worried about ‘later.’
But now?
Now, I was sharing a room with people who had already done better than me, and they were still treating NEET like war.
If they were still fighting, what was I doing?
I turned on my phone, opened a new document, and typed a single sentence:
"I can’t keep running from reality."
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