Maybe a Deewangi is all we need

Around a little more than a year ago, when I was deciding where I should study in class 11, I had a meeting with the head of a certain school, who wished that I joined his school. He was quite nice to me, and really wished that I did well.

However, when I told him that I wished to focus on the mathematical olympiads as well, he said the following:
“Beta, math olympiads toh deewangi hai – iske jageh astronomy karle na?”

Translated into English, “Son, mathematical olympiads is just a crazy obsession – why don’t you do astronomy olympiads instead?”

When he said this, I just smiled, and replied, “I’m sorry sir, but I’m not going to be leaving math olympiads anytime soon.” Deep down, my parents as well as I already knew that I wouldn’t be joining that school.

Mathematical olympiads for me, was (and still is) as he said, a somewhat crazy obsession – a deewangi. When he suggested that I do astronomy, his logic was that getting a gold medal in the international astronomy olympiad was still easier than getting to the IMO and winning any medal there (while this is certainly not true, it is true that India has a better performance at the astronomical olympiads every year). And perhaps he was right. Even so, I stuck to my decision. The question is why. Why did I choose to do that?

For me, olympiads and mathematics have meant far more than reaching the IMO or winning a medal there. It was always my dream to reach the IMO, and it’s a dream I still hope to accomplish. However, I now know that even if I don’t, the journey has taught me more than I could ever wish for. Mathematical olympiads is something I’ve done for so long that I can scarcely remember the times when I was getting into it.

My olympiad journey began with an examination known as the Junior mathematics olympiad conducted locally in Mumbai in class 7. I was really intrigued by the questions and my dad further reinforced my interest by helping me solve problems of the form I had never seen before.

By the time I reached class 8, I was preparing for the PRMO (nowadays known as the IOQM) and even managed to clear it. But believe me, that was it for me then. I had hardly ever managed to solve an RMO problem in my life, and I didn’t think there was any hope for going any further. It was at that point that I enrolled myself for classes under Komal ma’am (probably the best olympiad teacher in Mumbai) and suddenly I was introduced to an entire world of new problems. RMO started to come within reach. And then as I felt I was beginning to soar, I fell.

At RMO 2019, I scored 17 marks. The cutoff was 17 marks. But… I was one of the three students that missed out due to a tiebreak based on PRMO marks.

Honestly speaking, I don’t think I had any plans to do olympiads the next year. I spent a good 3-4 months completely out of sync from all olympiads. COVID struck too, and we were all forced to stay home. I think this gap allowed me to rethink my goals in olympiads. I realised that I still wanted to continue the journey – even after the devastating failure (you might say it wasn’t that big a deal, but believe me, it was for 13-year-old me). Not out of wanting redemption or some form of revenge, but because I really enjoyed the math I had been doing.

Once that feeling was established within me – the love for the problems I was solving, regardless of my success and failure – I started performing better too. I was a merit awardee at the Indian National Mathematical Olympiad in class 9, and an INMO awardee in classes 10 and 11.

Programs like OTIS and the Sophie fellowship also played a massive role in keeping this fire within me alive. I made a lot of new friends, attended various camps, and learnt a lot of cool math. 

Mathematical olympiads has always been something that has come really naturally and freely to me. I’ve truly enjoyed everything I’ve learnt and continue to learn through these olympiads – not just mathematical lessons but life lessons too.

And one of those biggest lessons was that maybe all each of us needs is a Deewangi, to keep us going. A crazy obsession – an obsession people might say is a waste of our time, an obsession people might try and force us to leave. But even when all signs point towards its exit in our life, we stick to it anyway.

Until next time,

Rushil.