Paani with People #3- Out Now!!

3 Feb 2026 · 2 min

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1:34

In this interview excerpt from the YouTube episode “Paani with People #3 – Out Now!!”, Speaker B recounts how a desire for personal growth, inspired by a peer who graduated from TISS, sparked an interest in elite education. Unfamiliar with the application process, B discovered the Chevening scholarship through a former classmate’s achievement at UCL via Facebook, which prompted a series of applications to international programs such as IDS at Sussex and Chevening. Despite doubts about his qualifications, B persisted, eventually receiving an acceptance email from Oxford along with consideration for a partial scholarship, a moment described as unbelievable by both speakers.

How did that thought emerge in your mind to get to Oxford?
I've always wanted to do something better, and Manzar had just come out of TISS, and I had seen the kind of change it had made in him. So I could see that education institutes were capable of making that change, and I had absolutely no idea Oxford में apply कैसे करते हैं, क्या करते हैं. I had no plans. But suddenly I go onto Facebook one day, and I see that one of my seniors—no, one of my classmates from school. uh, was a Chevening Scholar in, um, UCL. And I was like, what the hell is that? Like, how did she get there? Because I knew absolutely no one who was doing foreign education. No one. So I started applying and all of that, and I started getting through. I applied to IDS, Sussex, all of that. I started getting through, and I was like, really? Does my application have so much that they can accept me? Does it not? Do I not have to be like a Newton or an Einstein to get through? So, and then I had also applied to Oxford. I had applied to Chevening. I've come back from office and I have a really bad headache, and I've decided to go back to Kashmir because COVID होने वाला है. And then I remember at seven p.m. I'm getting an email saying that oh you've gotten into Oxford and we're also considering you for a partial scholarship.
I was like this is unbelievable.