A heartfelt post shared on X by IIT BHU alumnus and New York-based software engineer Akash Sampurnanand Pandey has struck a chord with social media users. In the viral post, he reflected on how his father's unsuccessful attempt at the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) shaped his own life in an unexpected way. Rather than seeing it as a setback, he described it as a turning point that freed him from the pressure of carrying forward a family legacy.
Akash began his post with a striking line: "The best thing that ever happened to me was my father failing the IIT JEE." He then recalled his father's journey in the summer of 1980. According to the post, his father travelled nearly 200 kilometres by hitchhiking with just Rs. 10 in his pocket to reach the examination centre. He had learned about the IIT JEE only six months earlier and appeared for the examination because he was considered the brightest student in his village.
The best thing that ever happened to me was my father failing the IIT JEE.
— Akash Sampurnanand Pandey (@late_bloomer_7) August 4, 2026
In the summer of 1980, he hitchhiked 200 km with 10 rupees in his pocket to reach the exam center. He had learned what JEE was just 6 months ago and sat it cold because he was the smartest guy in his…
"Failed. Spectacularly. Couldn't crack a single question, he says." Yet he explained that his father never carried bitterness about the result. Instead, he admired IIT graduates throughout his life and often spoke about them with respect.
Pandey said that this experience became an unexpected gift for him. In the X post, he wrote, "His JEE failure handed me a strange gift too. Zero pressure. Fail, and I'd be like him, still doing fine. Crack it, and I'd be the first in my entire bloodline." He added that the situation gave him "Zero downside. Historic upside. I got the obsession without the expectations."
He also shared that his father would remind him that he could never force his son to clear an examination that he himself had not cleared. That freedom, he said, allowed him to prepare without fear. He eventually cracked IIT JEE in 2012 on his first attempt, a moment that led to emotional celebrations at home. Recalling it, he wrote, "My dad lost it. Went almost crazy celebrating it."
The post ended on a reflective note. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if he had cracked JEE in 1980," he wrote, suggesting that his father's failure may have quietly created the conditions for his own success. The story has since sparked conversations online about parental expectations, academic pressure and the different ways success can be passed from one generation to the next.