New Delhi: Dipanshu Jindal did not need the top rank in Joint Entrance Examination (Main) . With an all-India rank of 53 in the JEE (Advanced), he was headed to one of the Indian Institutes of Technology anyway. But the 'AIR 1' "is good for the resume", reasons the 18 year-old lad from Shalimar Bagh.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the ranks for JEE Mains on Thursday night. The AIR 2 holder, Pratyush Maini is from Gurgaon. The third position has also gone to a Delhiite — Rajas Bansal of Sanskriti School. In the CBSE statement, his name appears as 'Rajesh Bansal'.

Like Jindal, Bansal was already a shoo-in for IIT. He has an AIR of 124 in JEE Advanced and hopes to study computer science at IIT-Delhi. Son of a revenue service officer and a homemaker, he plays football and computer games when he's not studying. He got a 98.8% in CBSE Class XII exams.

Jindal, a student of SD Public School, Pitampura, hopes to study computer science at IIT Delhi. "I guess my Class XII results were all right. I did fairly well," says Jindal, admitting that he is trying very hard to sound modest. "I don't want to sound like I am bragging," he added.
He got an aggregate of 98.6% in the Class 12 CBSE exams, scoring full marks in physics and mathematics. He was the school topper. He has his father, a mathematics tutor, to thank for his firm grounding in the subject. "He shaped me. He taught me in my initial years," he says. His mother is a homemaker and his younger sister is in Class XI.

Jindal joined coaching in Class XI and for the last two months, put in over 12 hours of work per day. Despite the long hours of study, Jindal isn't all work and no play. "I play cricket and football. And I spend four-five hours daily on social media. My parents used to scold me but it was important too," he says.