Brijesh Kumar Saroj, the son of a poor weaver, who overcame every hardship to make it to IIT-Bombay. When he cleared the IIT entrance exam, villagers threw stones at his home because he is Dalit. This has only hardened his resolve to 'make it in life.'
In Class 5, our teacher in the village school told my father, 'Eat just one meal a day, wear one pair of clothes, but educate your children.' That's the funda my father held out to.
My father works as a weaver in a Surat mill and earns between Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 a month which is not enough for us six children, my parents and my grandparents.
I took up a job in a garage in the village as a helper to a mechanic, 'get the wrench, get the spanner. Yeh karo woh karo (Do this, do that).' I learned nothing there, but earned Rs 3,000 in two months.
Yet, the villagers threw stones at our house when the results were announced because we are Dalits. They have threatened to throw acid on our family, they said we won't allow your children to get jobs in this village. And it's only because our father tried to push us towards the promise of a better life.
I get upset when people use the word 'higher' caste to describe these narrow-minded, uneducated, uncivilised people.
Whatever little I have achieved today is because of my opponents. What they said dil pe lagti thi aur jab dil pe lagti thi toh baat ban jati thi (It hurt me and it pushed me to realise my goals). They always told me you won't be able to do it because you are Dalit.
But money is not such a problem now. We used to have two bank accounts -- my brother's had Rs 504 and my mother's account had Rs 2,000. I don't know about my father's account since he lives in Surat.
After we got into IIT, the HRD ministry waived off our tuition fees, mess fees, hostel fees. We got funding of Rs 8 lakh (Rs 800,000) from private donors as well as the state government and politicians.
I heard about IIT (the Indian Institute of Technology) in Class 8. The boys in Class 10 would talk about IIT all the time.
So I asked a senior, 'Bhaiyya, yeh IIT kis bala ka naam hai? (What is this thing called IIT?)'
He said after you finish IIT you can earn a salary of Rs 25 lakh per annum.
I thought kya baat hai! Pachhees lakh ka package! Phir to hum zaroor karenge. (Wow! A salary of Rs 25 lakh! I will definitely do it).
Please read the full inspiring story in the link below
Please share this
Ravi
www.keralites.net |
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