This Success Story Of Two IITians Is A Reminder To Not Lose Hope

In today’s world, success defies a singular definition and often emerges from navigating through numerous setbacks in life. Particularly in the context of students, there is a prevalent reliance on exam results to define their futures. However, the reality is that exam assessments may not adequately measure everyone’s diverse skills, knowledge and attributes. IFS officer Himanshu Tyagi recently highlighted this with the story of two IITians, illustrating how individual journeys and outcomes can diverge despite similar academic beginnings.

Both were preparing for the UPSC civil services examination together. While one of them succeeded and joined the Indian Police Service, another failed but now has a net worth of at least Rs 2,000 crore.

Taking to his X handle, Himanshu Tyagi wrote, “They both were batchmates at IIT Delhi. Both prepared for civil service together. One friend cracked the Forest Service and joined. After a few years, he joined IPS by writing the exam again. Another friend failed both the CSE and Forest exams. So, he started coaching for IITJEE. Today, the IPS friend has retired and is living on a pension. IITJEE-friend’s net worth today is at least Rs. 2000 crore. His coaching is one of the top institutes in India and is expanding.”

Further explaining his message through the story, he emphasised that a few failures do not decide one’s life. “Both are successful in their ways. I just wrote to show people who consider themselves failures after failing a few exams,” he said in response to one of the comments.

Himanshu Tyagi refrained from revealing the identities of the IIT batchmates; however, he garnered a lot of reactions to the post. While some of them praised his views and expressed support, a few disagreed. A user wrote, “What I understood is that life doesn’t get over with the result of an exam. Opportunities continue to come every day, and we must be open to accepting whatever comes before us and making the best of it instead of crying for what hasn’t come. It’s necessary to be explained to today’s kids,” while another remarked, “You post every day about morals and values only to compare them with the amount of money earned, finally proving quotations are only for quotes.”

“Both succeeded in their own stories,” another user commented.

With diverse responses to Tyagi’s views on finding success and failure, the post has garnered over 3 lakh views.