Prudhvitej Immadi is an unusual IIT topper. He does not have stories of spending long hours devouring books and making personal sacrifices to get the top score. "I enjoyed preparing for IIT-JEE . The only tough time I had was in Class XI when I was coping with some fundamental concepts," he said.

The 16-yearold is probably the youngest AIR 1 in the history of the IITs. His family has a small jewellery shop in a rural corner of Tirumala in the West Godavari belt. He intends to join IIT-Powai to study electrical engineering but Prudhvitej said he did not want to pursue a career as an engineer. He added IIT-Powai was not his destination but a brief halt en route to the civil services. He said he nursed only one ambition, to become an IAS officer . "I scored well because IIT was not the be-all and end-all of my life," he added.

A student of Sri Chaitanya Junior College , Vijayawada, he was watching the IPL match even a day before the examination.