Brijesh Mehta

Brijesh Mehta was born on 27^th of Sept. 1975 in a Gujarati speaking family of Smt Prafullaben and late Shri Anantrai Girjashanker Mehta in Khambhalia district of Gujarat. My family hails from the Nana Dahisara village of Morbi district. I come from a very educated family. My grandfather was a school headmaster in Dahisara village and had great respect in the village. My father was the eldest of five siblings and a mechanical engineer of his time. He was an officer in the Gujarat Electricity board (now PGVCL). Brijesh Mehta was younger than his two elder sisters and elder of two sons.

My grandfather was a very strict teacher and so was my father, Anantrai Mehta. Mehta family had very rich values and importance for education. My father took bold decision to put me in English medium school at the time when most of the students studied in Gujarati medium. Right from the childhood, my father devoted time for my studies, especially Maths. At times, I used to get scolding for getting incorrect answers in Maths. Due to this, I became perfect in Mathematics and quick in mental maths. Mathematics became my favourite subject. Most of the students used to solve their doubts from me in class. I used to enjoy teaching Mathematics to my classmates. I never knew that this was going to be my profession later on. My primary education till 7^th std was in Saint Karve’s school which imparted great moral values in a disciplined environment.

I finished my secondary education from Saint Xavier’s school, Jamnagar. I secured 81% marks in 10^th std which was not bad in those days. I was shifted to Saint Mary’s school, Rajkot in 11^th and 12^th std. My father had expectations that I would become a doctor but I was very weak in Biology. I was more inclined to mathematics and could not memorise biology. In those days, most of the students went for tuitions apart from school studies. 6 hours of school and 4 hours of tuitions everyday used to be very hectic and I could hardly find time for self study or learning of concepts. After the completion of syllabus, I never wrote any papers and simply revised all chapters multiple times. I always avoided Biology and had more interest in Maths. I was also afraid of Board exams and expectations of my parents. The result was that I could secure only 57% in my 12^th board exams, getting only 36 marks in Biology. My father was very disappointed as his dream of his son becoming a doctor was shattered. The only choice left with me was to do BSc (Bachelor of Science). There was no English medium college at that time in the entire Saurashtra. My father denied me to go to Ahmedabad or Baroda for BSc and insisted in doing BSc at Kotak Science College, Rajkot, in which he himself used to study once for some length of time. The college was of Gujarati medium so I avoided going to college and did self study at home. At that time there were no mobile phones and internet connection. For the first 7 to 8 months, I simply wandered and asked everyone for English medium material but could not find any. Once, I got the syllabus printed in English from Saurashtra University and list of reference books recommended in it.

I got the required books and started self learning. I stood second in the college with first class marks with just 3 months of self study. This incidence motivated me. Next year, I started working right from the first day and topped in the entire university. I scored 180 marks out of 200 in Maths. This result was without attending a single lecture in the college. I also remember thinking a mathematical problem for continuous 8 hours without break. During these days, my father was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. I did not want to put financial burden on him so I started giving tuitions. As I prepared doing self study in the first year, I was through with all the concepts. One of my childhood friends wanted guidance in Maths. He brought his two friends for tuitions and I started teaching those 3 students. Fees decided was Rs 600 for the entire subject (this was year 1995). I received first instalment of Rs 300 after a month of teaching. This was my first earning. When I was in the 2^nd year of college, I taught first year students and when I was in the final year of college, I taught 2^nd year students. When I was in the third year, my desire was to be the university topper.

I worked extremely hard for it. I observed that I was very slow in writing and presentation. So I worked tremendously hard to improve my speed. At the last moment, as the exam approached, I developed the writer’s cramp, a neurological condition due to anxiety and I was unable to write. As soon as I held the pen, my hand used to become heavy and it was very painful. Again, I could not score up to my potential and could not get admission into MSc that year. There were only 40 seats in Saurashtra University against 1000 students. Half of the seats went into reservation. With blessings of our Guruji Shri Nathalal Joshi, I started tuition classes in the name of “SHAKTI” the name (given by him). I used to teach every student who came to me. Starting from 1^st std to college students. I used to teach for 10 to 12 hours. After a year a miracle happened and 40 additional self finance seats were added in MSc and I could get admission in MSc @ Saurhshtra University. I had earned just enough to pay my fees. My tuitions and my studies went simultaneously. I finished my masters in the year 1999. Along with the university education, I was also interested in Yoga and meditation and did all the courses offered in SSY (Siddh Samadhi Yog). One of the advance meditation courses was to remain in silence for 5 days and also no food.

I learnt the power of Pranayam, yoga, meditation and silence. On the last night of that course, we climbed Girnar Mount. After my post graduation, I went to one of the most reputed schools SNK for interview and got selected for the post. I was offered Std. 7^th and 8^th as they already had a senior teacher for 11^th and 12^th and newly recruited teacher for 9^th and 10^th. I joined the school from 1^st of May and had teacher’s training for one month. A day before the opening of the school, I was called and asked to take 11^th and 12^th for a month as the senior teacher was on leave for a month. I took the classes very well and on demand of students, I was given the responsibility of taking 11^th and 12^th for the entire year. I learned a lot working there as teaching in school is different from teaching in tuitions.

I used to take chemistry in school and started tuitions for Maths for 9^th and 10^th class students. Due to some management issues I left the school next year. I continued tuitions of SNK students and approximately 60 to 70 students used to come for our tuitions from 8^th to 12^th std. I shifted my tuitions from home to a newly purchased premise in Jagnath plot. Simultaneously, I worked with Nirmala convent school as a chemistry and Maths teacher for 2 years. I used to go to school from 7 to 1 and then my classes from 3 to 9.30. I got married to Namrata during the same time. Due to excessive work load and use of throat, I started developing frequent infections of throat and development of nodes on vocal cords (singer’s nodules). If not taken care of then, it might have to be removed surgically. So, I left Nirmala and just focused on my tuitions. After a year, Vidyaniketan School was established which was the first exclusively English medium science school in Saurashtra. I was offered the task of teaching Chemistry to the first batch of 11^th std which was a privilege at that time. My parents and my wife were reluctant in taking this extra work load but as it was a part time job (just 3 hours), they finally agreed.

This was in the year 2004. We purchased a new land parcel in Jalaram plot and constructed a building for tuition classes. With bigger space, we could expand the classes and had more than 200 students of just one school, SNK. I left Vidyaniketan as I was committed and focused only on tuitions. After a year of running classes in our new building, we thought of starting a school in it in the morning session. Gujarat Board was the only board which gave permission for 11^th and 12^th std directly. We got the permission of starting a school in the year 2007. In the first year of school, we had just 6 students and 6 teachers (Phy, Chem., Bio, Maths, Eng and Comp). We were famous for ICSE board as our tuitions were only for ICSE board students. No one knew us in Gujarat Board and hence we had very less roll strength in the beginning. In those years there was no awareness of competitive exams. We used to push our tuition students for preparation of AIEEE and PMT exams. We also produced some exceptional results in those days. We struggled with less number of students in our school in the early years as people were reluctant to take admission in new school for their important years. We were dedicatedly working with those limited students and they used to enjoy our way of teaching. We were slowly building our brand “SHAKTI” with hard work and dedication. Then came the year 2013 when JEE was introduced in INDIA in place of AIEEE. Gujarat made JEE compulsory replacing GUJCET. Two of our school students Ranvir Rana and Bhavya Rachchh stood 1^st and 2^nd respectively in JEE in entire Gujarat (Official ranks declared by authorities). Later on both these students cleared IIT entrance exams and studied in IIT Mumbai and IIT Madras respectively. We saw a surge in admission & started our own entrance test. There was a time when we used to refuse admission to more than 100 students as we didn’t want to compromise with the quality of our teaching. We have worked ethically till date and continue values of our family. We have a policy of paying attention on even the weakest of students and help them build confidence through education. We provide value education and help students to inculcate discipline in their life.

Feather in the cap

During covid-19 period in the year 2020, schools were closed and students were given online education. We used to record our lectures and post in Google classroom and occasionally took zoom classes for doubt solving. We were relatively free from taking classes and I started cycling for fitness and extra activity. One cycling event was organized by RotaryClub (before covid) in which the categories were 5 km, 10 km, 25 km and 50 km. I had never cycled for more than 10 km and I registered myself for 50 km. The event was after a month. I started practice and added 2 to 5 km every day. I was told that if I could cycle 25 km then 50 would be possible on the day of event. After a few days I reached 35 km and on the day of event I was able to finish 50 km. This boosted my morale and thought of continuing it. In the year 2020, I was regularly doing up to 50 km. As the year 2021 started, I levelled up to 60 then 70 then 80 and finally did 100 km (continuously). I bought a new Scott speedster bicycle and then frequently did solo 100 km every Sunday. I joined Rajkot Randonneurs club and started getting tips from legends. I increased my endurance and took part in 200 km BRM event. These are time bound events and registered under Audax club of Paris. My first 200 km BRM was a night BRM up to Jamnagar. It was to be completed in 13 hours. I successfully completed it almost solo as I was the slowest rider. My next BRM was 300 km up to Keshod and finished it in July 2021. Next was 400 km up to Somnath in which we missed one of the control points by 10 min and hence we were given late finish. If a rider finishes 200, 300, 400 and 600 km BRM in one Audax year, then he gets the title of Super Randonneurs (SR). I skipped 600 km that year. In the year 2022, I finished all the BRM twice and earned the title of double SR. My longest ride is 1002 km in 75 hours (3 days and 3 nights) from Rajkot to Dahod (to and fro). This is a great inspiration for my students as well. Till date I have completed 26500 km in almost 470 rides. In 2021 I did 10500 km and in the year 2022, I did 15500 km. I also did 2 half marathons in my life and wish to do a full marathon some day going forward.