#MyCLATStory- Indrasish Majumder
Indrasish Majumder is a fifth-year law student at the National Law University of Odisha, where he is currently pursuing B.A., L.L.B. (Hons.). He was born and brought up in Kolkata, West Bengal. Indrasish has a keen interest in reading fiction and he also enjoys traveling. He is also the team leader of the Odisha chapter of IDIA as well as an intern at CLATalogue. Let us get to know Indrasish and his journey a little better.
Tell us, Indrasish, what motivated you to pursue law as a career?
My decision to take the CLAT and take up law as a profession was influenced by what my parents wanted for me and what seemed like the best course for me to take based on my skills and interests, as well as what would be professionally rewarding.
But if you asked me what really made me respect my decision to pursue a career in law, I would say that my involvement with IDIA right when I started law school was when I knew I was on the right path.
IDIA assisted me in understanding the power of the law and how we could use our privilege to do good for the marginalized and specially abled. In my current position as team leader of the Odisha chapter, I can say without a doubt that in my five years of law school, in addition to the friends that I made and the memories that I created with them, IDIA is the best thing to have happened to me.
Even though I’m trying to build a career in academia at the moment and look forward to pursuing my LLM from NUJS, I’d really like to be involved with IDIA in a more permanent way in the future.
How did you start your CLAT journey?
My CLAT journey started towards the beginning of 2017. Frankly, at that time, I was not mature enough to decide on the path to pursue after my graduation from school. However, I have always been a bibliophile and, in general, could study for long hours and memorize well.
After school, I wanted to take up some course on English for a while, but my parents suggested that I take CLAT coaching instead because it was a good fit for all the skills and interests I mentioned above.
Therefore, I joined CLATapult. After two years of studying, I got a decent rank in CLAT UG and got admitted to NLUO. With my rank, I could upgrade to better NLUs, but I chose NLUO nonetheless because it was near my home.
How were your initial years in law school?
In retrospect, my initial years in law school seemed exceedingly difficult to navigate. As a 17-year-old with no prior experience or interest in staying away from home unless absolutely necessary, my first law school years were all about staying in a hostel for as little time as possible, and on most occasions when college life is per se enjoyed by most people (feasts, freshmen, etc.), I was at home with my family.
For the first two years of college, I divided my personal and professional life between home and college. For me, college was all about attending classes, studying, and appearing for exams, very much like school.
So, it wasn’t until my third year of law school that I really started to try out all the different things you can do when you go to law school.
Tell us a bit about your experience while taking CLAT LLM. How was that experience different from the time you took CLAT UG?
Something I’ve realized about competitive exams is that my performance depends a lot on my mental maturity in handling the exam. In addition to the theoretical things I learned in law school over the course of five years, I did much better on the CLAT PG than on the CLAT UG because I had a much clearer idea of what I wanted to do with my life.
Of course, you can get clarity by trying out the different paths you can take in law after you graduate, such as through internships. This gives you more experience and, as mentioned above, makes you more mature.
Regarding the preparation strategy for CLAT PG, one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that “starting from scratch” is not an option unlike CLAT UG. CLAT PG is really all about brushing up on the basics of subjects that you have already studied in law school, coupled with keeping yourself updated on current legal developments (policy changes, judgments, etc.)
The syllabus of CLAT PG can definitely seem overwhelming at times, and if that is the case, some guidance on how to structure the study definitely helps a lot. That being said, I can assure you that your experiences over the last five years will definitely aid in your preparation.
For instance, in this year’s CLAT PG paper, there was an entire passage on Securities Law (insider trading). Based on past year’s trends, this was a new part of the CLAT curriculum. However, this was one of the passages where I scored the most because I had just finished an internship with a well-known law firm partner and written a paper on Securities Law (insider trading) that has now been published. So, the exam really tests what you’ve learned in law school as a whole, not just what you’ve learned in class.
What would you say sets apart your #CLATStory from others?
I’m not sure if this distinguishes me, but in terms of #CLATStory, I chose to pursue what my parents thought was the best career option for me with zeal. I haven’t had much cause to regret it yet.
Is there any advice that you’d like to pass on to law school aspirants and law students?
I think that anyone who wants to go to law school ( both undergraduate or postgraduate) by qualifying for the CLAT should learn to be consistent and regular with their preparation. Both of these exams take place when you are on the cusp of completing two very important stages of your student life- one as a student in a school and one as a graduate from a college.
The only way to strike a delicate balance between enjoying your time at these stages and not jeopardizing your preparation is to dedicate a few hours every day to CLAT preparation. This time, the exam was set up six months in advance, so I couldn’t do it. But people who will take the exam in December have almost a year to prepare and can definitely succeed by incorporating the two qualities listed above into their daily lives.
The lifelong memories that one makes in school and college are indispensable to a golden student life, as is the need to achieve your professional aims. Neither can be fully appreciated without the other.
This interview is a part of our series #MyStory where we interview law students and legal professionals.
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Ruchika Mohapatra
Contributing author
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