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The good thing about dreams is that they can be born to anyone. Aspirations, hopes and desires are a common companion to dreams and India is a nation that dreams. It dreams a lot indeed. The boisterous diversity of our nation is reflective in every corner of our country and especially in the metropolitan cities. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai among others are the cities of dreams; the whole of India in a way gravitates towards these cities for a better life, to struggle and work hard for their dream and a large fraction of these dreamers are students.
The capital city of Delhi has much to bustle about. There is something about Delhi that cannot be contained in a definition, one has to experience it all together. It is civil and dirty at the same time, it is noble and it is indifferent too. Students of our great nation who reside outside the ‘it’ cities grow up with hopes and dreams in their eyes. The dream? Delhi. Over recent years Delhi has become a very sought after place for University education in India. Where a city like Kota is regressive and cutthroat, Delhi is an upgrade. It allows a student to breathe in his identity, chase his dream and not give a chance to be complacent by being fiercely competitive too.
The students studying at secondary level in multiple states dream to be in Delhi for its educational novelty and an upgrade to a more urban setting. The biggest factor that plays out in this is Delhi University. There is probably no other university in the nation that attracts such buzz, the volume of students going to study a diverse array of subjects. Over the years, the DU tag has created prestige for itself and it is hardly going anywhere. The students fight it out each other to wear this shiny badge and be a part of this enriching ecosystem.
Delhi University is appropriately academic and strongly cultured with its student bodies. It is huge and diverse having 77 colleges under its umbrella. It is a place that harbours individuals of all backgrounds and cities and ultimately makes them homogenous as one big family. It is a huge cultural change for everybody. DU is a world in itself. And all these elements are a huge factor when it comes to a 16-year-old studying in a relatively remote place in Uttar Pradesh. He wants to kick in his desire of being something more, giving in to the temptation of social climbing, making friends that he doesn’t have the privilege of having and at the same time prove his mettle to himself, his family and his peers.
Unlike most fields, the doors to a university like this open from the outside and not the inside. The immigrants value this greater sense of freedom and opportunity. This privilege is often looked over by students who have resided in urban cities and don’t know the value of being under the rug. Which are exactly the reasons why the ‘immigrants’ prosper more in DU and make what it really is?
But the non-metro states also come with a lack of exposure and they often carry these blinders with them which can prove to be both beneficial and harmful, in more cases than not; it is the former.
One big reason for the mass exodus of students to Delhi is the golden dream of clearing the UPSC exams and become a civil servant. It is a dream that thousands of Indians harbour and have no problem making sacrifices to their personal lives and their own sanctity in order to achieve. The ambition here is a beast to be fed. But like the capital of our nation, Delhi is also the capital of UPSC and it’s aspirants.
Civility in Delhi is a flu that spreads quick and it is only a catalyst in their dream of finally becoming an IAS officer. The culture of study here is strong. Unbeknown to a general population, secondary to Kota; Delhi has the second-highest number of coaching institutes of UPSC than any other state. The localities of Mukherjee Nagar and Kohat Enclave become a staple for the students who are constantly willing to work, lean and compete hard. The dream is packaged and sold, it is made to feel lustrous; the commercialisation is at no backburner here.
Delhi is a perfect antithesis to the city of Kota. This city doesn’t let your breath of toxicity as Kota does it is a city so large, there is the culture of DU, there is an opportunity to relax and have a cultural upgradation and over that there is a thirst to prove oneself which creates a healthy competition. Delhi rewards you with a fulfilling life as a student, as long as you allow it to remain one.
