Boy who valued my time as well as his own

More than 20 years back…there was a boy, HD preparing for AIPMT (there was no NEET then) with
me. He used to attend classes in my IIT batch. Very sharp, very disciplined. His father was doctor in
army. He often used to talk to me about various things apart from his son’s progress. I urged HD to
take IIT exam also. He cracked IIT screening comfortably with just his knowledge of Physics and
Chemistry. If my memory works, only 20000 students were declared qualified and he was one. He
cracked AIPMT with an AIR around 200 and went to AFMC, Pune. Today, he is a famous
neurosurgeon.

Why do I recall HD?

He had a remarkable quality that very few students have. He valued my time as well as his own. He
had a beautiful way of asking doubts. While studying, if he had some doubt or was unable to solve a
question correctly, he would note it down in a diary with reference to the name of the book and
page number. He had the ability to pin point his doubt.
He usually asked for time once a week – just 10 min! He would place the book in front of me and
hold his diary. He would go on asking those pin-pointed doubts by flipping through the pages of his
book and I would go on answering one by one. Sometimes I was amazed at how he understood his
mistakes even before I completed my explanation. He would never request me to solve a question
completely. Many a time I would answer his 20 doubts in 10 min.
Because he was actually involved in solving a problem, he could sense where he was stuck. He would
just ask me to remove that friction.
Any teacher would love answering doubts of such students. In my experience, no teacher loves so-
called doubts where a student just pushes a question in front of him and asks to solve it completely.
Students forget that it is not the teacher who will be taking the exam!