Meet The NDA Gold Medalist Who Lied To Parents About Failing IIT Entrance Exam To Join Indian Army?

In India, studying at a prestigious university is highly regarded. Sometimes parents take their admiration for these institutions to an extreme, depriving their children of the opportunity to pursue their own life goals. Something similar would have happened to NDA Gold Medalist Gaurav Yadav if he had not hidden his IIT entrance results from his parents.??

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NDA Gold Medalist Lied About Failing IIT Entrance To Pursue His Dream Of Joining The Indian Army

Yadav is the son of a farmer from Alwar, Rajasthan. He had tried his best to hide his IIT entrance exam results from his parents because he wanted to pursue his passion of wanting to join the Indian Army. As it turns out, his little lie was a home run in the larger scheme of life.

On Wednesday, Gaurav was presented with the President’s gold medal at the NDA 143rd course. He has always been a bright student, getting good grades in academics as well as excelling in sports during his school years. The NDA gold medalist did his schooling at Kerala Public School in Rewari, Haryana. Not only did he top his 10th grade exams, but he also scored the highest score of 96 percent in his 12th grade board exams.

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Gaurav Did Not Pass The NDA Entrance On His First Try

Without telling his parents that he had cleared the?IIT entrance, Gaurav entered a college in Delhi in order to get into his dream institution, the National Defense Academy. In a conversation with TOI, Gaurav’s brother Vineet shared, "I believed his version. Only after being chosen for the NDA did he tell us that he had also passed the IIT entrance exam.

While Gaurav passed the?NDA entrance twice, he could only crack the Service Selection Board (SSB) on his third try. Gaurav revealed, "I would stand in front of the wall in my room and imagine being interviewed by an SSB panel and responding to their queries."

Gaurav’s parents, Balwant and Kamlesh, felt their hearts swell as they shared, "Seeing him leading the parade in front of all these people gave us goosebumps."