Accolades are raining on Arkya Chatterjee (18), a student of south Kolkata’s Vivekananda School, who almost maxed CISCE’s class XII Indian School Certificate board examination (results were declared in May) with a record average of 99.75 percent.

Nor is this astonishing average the sum of his achievements. In July, Arkya was awarded rank 288 in the IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination)-Advanced — reputedly the country’s toughest public exam — and by virtue thereof, was admitted into the elite IIT-Bombay’s four-year B.Tech (engineering physics) degree programme.

The elder of two children of Kolkata-based software professionals Tapas and Monideepa Chatterjee — employees of IT majors Cognizant Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services respectively — Arkya attributes his extraordinary academic achievements to hard work, mentoring from school and FIIT-JEE teachers, parental support and most of all, to his grandfather, a retired Central government employee. “Though I owe my success to all these selfless people, it was my grandfather who helped me strategise and draw up balanced study schedules which enabled an all-round good performance,” he acknowledges.

A topper since class VIII, Arkya believes there’s no substitute for sustained, disciplined study. “Throughout my Plus Two years, I followed a schedule which included five-six hours of study after school, and 10-12 hours on weekends. My interest in STEM subjects, especially physics, grew over the years, so in class XI I decided to also sign up with the local FIIT-JEE test preparatory academy which runs weekend classes,” says Arkya, who includes Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman among his inspirations.

With the future looking bright for this gifted youth, after completion of his B.Tech degree programme at IIT-B, Arkya intends to do research in high-energy/particle physics. “The common complaint is that India doesn’t have enough research scientists and innovators. I hope to step forward and do my bit to fill that breach,” says Arkya.

Wind in your sails!

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)