PART- 2
By early 2000s, some of the students who Mr. Bansal had taught had
managed an entry into the IITs. Mr Bansal pioneered a new method of teaching. He invented what he calls the DPP which is Daily Practise Problems, which meant a daily look and grind into solving problems. Since the time between the Board exams and the IIT entrance exams is never enough to feel ‘well-prepared’. Bansal evolved a system wherein candidates could work through strict deadlines and solve those questions which mattered.
Mr Bansal handed over a sheet of paper to this correspondent which had a set of basic multiplication, square roots and other Math problems. “This,” he said, “is the basis of all Math. It is not very different in JEE Mains. The papers are not too tough. Get your basics right and everything else will be easy.”
Mr. Bansal’s love for teaching did not arise out of a selfish need to
make money but more as a route to survival. “I always loved teaching and loved learning too. I have studied under street lamps because my family could not afford electricity back home in Jhansi,” Mr. Bansal disclosed.
As a child, Bansal earned scholarships and got through school because his family had no money to pay tuition fees. “I knew the value of education and what it takes to get a good education,” Mr. Bansal said.
And soon the Bansal Empire was built. What was once a handicap turned into a blessing. Mr. Bansal has also built an institution to facilitate research on muscular dystrophy so that other people inflicted with the same infirmity could be saved of the anguish.
At 28, Bansal was told he would not survive the coming ten years; it is more than 30 years now that he has not taken ill at all.
The austere allegiance to physio-therapy and diet has gained the grand daddy of Kota much approbation. When this correspondent visited him, Mr. Bansal had not taken lunch because he had gulped down two tiny pieces of mithai late morning. “I don’t do exercise so I cannot afford to put on weight. Two pieces of mithai is the same, if not worse, than having lunch by way of calories”
Over the years, Mr. Bansal has been bestowed with many honours. A
‘Memento of Honour’ awarded on the eve of 50th Independence day by the Government of Rajasthan, a “Kota-Man of the year” in 2001, and an Inshape, Aptech and Hariyali honour, to name only a few
But Mr. Bansal does not like too many praises heaped on him. Before this correspondent could get started on his diet, Mr. Bansal pressed a button on his wheel chair and swiftly slipped away into the long corridor outside his office. He turned his wheelchair sideways once to bid a good-bye and then, single-handedly, pressed a few more buttons, rode on to a ramp outside the office and sped away into the expanse which connects the campus to his home.
You can read the PART-1 of this series to know the story behind VK Bansal