‘Missed MBBS seat twice, but life gave me Indian Army’: Retired Major’s message to NEET aspirants

Chennai: Madhan Kumar, a retired Major of the Indian Army who was also formerly an MBBS aspirant, has shared a touching and inspirational message for NEET aspirants. “Suicide is no solution to failure. Exam is a common phenomenon and you’ll need to write exams for almost any career path. Failure is fine, but there are so many career options out there,” he says. His message comes at a time when many students in Tamil Nadu have been taking extreme steps merely days after having written the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) exam for medical entrance on Sunday.

Missed my MBBS seat by 9 marks against the cutoff.
Took 1 year break , improved my +12 score & then reappeared.
Met with a nasty accident enroute the exam centre. Missed it by 7 marks.
Life then gave me #Indianarmy.
Sucide is not a solution for failures.
Fight back #NEETexam

— Major Madhan Kumar (@major_madhan) September 16, 2021

Via a tweet, the retired Major who hails from Tamil Nadu shared his own tale of how he couldn’t clear his medical entrance test, owing to unfortunate circumstances. The post is now viral on social media and has gained a great amount of appreciation from people hailing from many walks of life. Madhan Kumar elaborated the contents of his tweet to Zee Media and wished to encourage, empower NEET aspirants, who were on the cusp of their adult life.

Back in 1997, Madhan had cleared his 12th Grade examination in Tamil Nadu and had been preparing hard for the MBBS entrance tests and attempted the entrance exams in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karnataka. However, he fell short of the cutoff by nine marks. Eager to improve his score and achieve his dream of becoming a doctor, the young man spent an entire year preparing for the medical entrance and also re-attempted his 12th exams to better his score.

But life had unfortunate plans for him, as he met with an accident while heading towards his exam center in Chennai. Despite the delay, he managed to write the exam after getting basic first aid. In his second attempt, he missed the cutoff by 7 marks, which made him eligible for Veterinary, Dental or Agricultural courses in Tamil Nadu Government Colleges. While he did join the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, he dropped out in two months owing to the advice of his family. His father and brother were engineers and wanted him to pursue engineering.

At the time of completing his B.Tech in textile engineering and being eligible for placement, Madhan had cleared both his SSC (Short Service Commission) and CDS (Combined Defence Services) exam in the first go and bagged an all-India rank of 73. He then joined the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, following which he was Commissioned and an officer and served the Indian Army(between 2003-2010) in Kashmir and Delhi, until he rose to the rank of Major and later retired voluntarily.

“Meeting with an accident on the day of my second MBBS exam attempt really broke me, as there was peer pressure, the feeling of having lost one year and what not! But, the happiness of having cleared the Defence exams is unparalleled and I wouldn’t have been as happy, even had I qualified for MBBS. Our youth must believe that life always has something good in store for us” he told Zee Media.

He urges NEET aspirants and their families to not lose hope over a failure, he urges them to consider a plethora of other allied streams such as Biotechnology, Veterinary medicine, Paramedic courses, Forensics and even options such as Armed Forces Medical College etc. Pointing out the glorification of those who take the extreme step and the payment of solatium/compensation to the bereaved family, he feels that the media and politicians must be responsible when handling such sensitive issues and not cause an unfortunate Domino effect of suicides.