Thug Speaks About His Education Days

S8UL Esports and 8bit Creatives co-owner Animesh “Thug” Agarwal opened up about the ups and downs he faced in his life. He revealed that despite being a bright student, he failed to achieve his goals in the 10th and 12th grade. He reflected on these experiences, acknowledging the disappointments that came with aiming to be a topper but emphasizing that being among the top performers is still a great achievement. He also shared insights into his decisions to choose colleges and his eventual success in the gaming industry.

Thug’s journey from a bright student to a successful gamer

In Mukul "Rebel" Anchal's recent vlog, he asked Thug about his marks in his board examination. Responding to this, Thug revealed that he was quite a bright student. However, despite scoring extremely well, he failed to achieve his goals in the 10th and 12th grade. In 10th grade, he aimed to score a distinction, i.e., above 90%. However, he could only score 81.3% due to poor marks in Social Studies. Later, he stated that his goal for 12th grade was to get 97.5% to secure a seat in Shri Ram College of Commerce. However, due to a lack of marks, he could not do it. 

Reflecting on these experiences, Thug stated that he never believed he would excel in academics after his disappointing performances. He knew that he had the potential to be among the top performers but not ‘the top performer’.

Thug acknowledged that aiming to be a topper can come with its fair share of disappointments but emphasized that being among the top performers is still a great achievement. He acknowledged that even though he had friends who were also struggling, all of them ended up in a good place. 

Thug revealed that he got admission to Xavier School Kolkata, a college he did not want to attend. Hence, within just 12 days, he decided to leave the college. He explained that he had received admission to Hansraj College for Mathematics Honors. Despite not liking the course, he joined the new college because it was reputed. Reflecting on his decision, he acknowledged that it was a foolish mistake to choose a college based on its reputation rather than the course. 

Thug revealed he didn’t perform well in his first attempt at the Chartered Accountant (CA) exam. For the first one and a half years at Hansraj College, he only enjoyed his time with ten of his childhood friends who were also studying at Delhi University. He later realized that he wasn’t achieving much and that his dad was aware of it too. His father advised him to leave Hansraj College, which he did. However, instead of enrolling in another full-time course, he took admission in a correspondence college. 

Thug shared that he had cleared his CA Entrance and was preparing for his final exams when something significant happened in his personal life. He didn’t elaborate on the details but mentioned that it affected him deeply. As a result, he became determined to give it his all for the next 40 days leading up to his final exams.

He highlighted that the drop he took delayed his graduation by three years. During that time, he found success in the competitive gaming scene, traveling to Delhi for PUBG Mobile tournaments. Thug also shared how he and his team made a bootcamp at PG (paying guest), which helped him further hone his gaming skills. After this, he started his livestreaming journey.

Thug emphasized that it is important not to be disheartened by failures and to keep trying new things. “Class 10th, class 12th, college, and your professional degree. You have these four phases. You can always restart and try something else. But you should not fool yourself. If you fool yourself, you will feel like life is easy. You would not care about any exams,” he added.