For school-leavers in India with a flair for maths and science there is usually only one sensible choice: get an engineering degree, which will almost guarantee a well-paid job in industry. In sharp contrast, natural-science degrees such as physics have become viewed as something you might only do if you failed to get onto an engineering course. We meet some of these student "rebels" who have rejected the glamour of engineering to instead pursue their passion for the physical sciences.