A coolie’s son going to study at the London School of Economics!

Tags

ambition, backwardness, coolie, discriminate, scholarship

His father who worked as a coolie is a heart patient. His illiterate mother is just 45, but having carried heavy loads on her back all her life, she suffers from severe back problems. Until the local Panchayat gave community members proper houses, they lived in huts. When it rained, his parents could not go out and work, and there were days when there was no rice at home and they ate only jackfruit seeds. When he was young, the only desire he had was to have rice to eat every day. Can you believe it, this 24 years old youth has been admitted to the prestigious London School of Economics?

In school, if he remained a silent, invisible backbencher, it was mainly because no teacher paid any attention to him. There was nobody to guide him or advise him on his studies, so much so that he didn’t even know what to study and how to do it. It was only when he was in Class VII that he passed a subject for the first time. His primary and middle school days went by without anyone hurting him much. But the moment he went to high school, he felt discriminated against.

There were only socially backward and poor students in the upper primary school, so they all felt the same. But once he got to high school, there were socially and financially sound students in the school and they looked down upon him with contempt. Once when he was out on the school ground for physical education, a teacher asked him which House (children are divided into various Houses) he belonged to. When he said he was a member of the Blue House, the master sarcastically remarked, ‘you should have been in the black house; not the blue one!’ That incident discriminate him a lot.

Recalling the caste discrimination Binesh said “I still remember the upper-class people shutting the door in my face when I went to watch TV at their home. If they saw their children playing with us, they would immediately call them home. On festival days and birthdays, they used to call us to eat, but would make us sit on the floor at the back of the house and serve us food there.”

Life changed dramatically for Binesh when a senior student in his school took him to an Internet cafe. It was during the summer vacation after Class VII; the year he had for the first time passed a subject in school. At the cafe, he was introduced to video games first. After that, he started going there often to play games. From games, he moved to the virtual world, a world where there was no caste, religion or backwardness, where nobody looked at him with contempt or judged him. He created an e-mail id for himself, and also an account on Orkut.

When the new academic year started, there was an allotted hour for students of Class VIII to study computers. For the first time, Binesh felt confident in front of the other students, having already learned to operate a computer. He was so fascinated by programming languages that he scored full marks in the subject and became a hero for the other students! That made him decide it was the field he was going to study after Class X. He was going to become a network engineer!

He was also interested in dancing but didn’t know where to learn. Again, the Internet came to his rescue, and he started learning dance watching YouTube videos of Michael Jackson. He learned the most difficult steps first and became a reasonably good dancer. Dancing also helped him break free from the shackles that bound him since childhood. He also started reading e books and learned to design Web sites.

Binesh was very keen to study network engineering and was admitted to a college in Bangalore. However, due to a local politician’s interference, he did not get funding from the government, and there ended his dream of studying network engineering. Disappointed, Binesh had to bury his dreams and join a nearby college to study development economics. He started spending more time in the library to improve his language skills and knowledge of the subject. After completing his graduation, Binesh decided to do an MBA at the Kerala University campus. That was the time he was introduced to Dr. Ambedkar.”Like Ambedkar, I also wanted to go out and study where I would not be judged on my color, background or financial status.” he said.

In the meantime, he was selected among 20 students to win the National Overseas scholarship of Rs 45 lakh. Binesh applied to the London School of Economics and was admitted for an MSc in Social Anthropology. What worked in his favor was a paper he published in the Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies on tribal medicine that can detoxify the bodies of alcoholics before they started counseling. As he gets ready to go to LSE in 2017, he says, “I have found that if these universities notice that you have potential, they encourage you.My ambition is to do a Ph.D. at Oxford or Harvard”

He cleared the IAS at 21 years

Tags

IAS, struggle, success, youngest IAS officer

The UPSC civil services exam is considered one of the toughest exams in the country. Lakhs of people appear in the exam and only a few hundred qualify in the end. Only a proper combination of hard work, guidance and tenacity can help UPSC aspirants crack these exams. Many candidates, despite having all the comforts and coaching that money can buy, fail to clear the Civil Services exam. But some determined and zealously diligent candidates achieve success despite all odds stacked against them. One such inspiring person is Ansar Ahmad Shaikh, who cleared the UPSC civil services exam, 2015 in his very first attempt. He secured AIR 361 and he was just 21; beating Roman Saini who was 22 when he became an IAS officer.

Ansar is the son of Yonus Shaikh Ahmad, an auto rickshaw driver from Jalna’s Shedgaon village in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. His mother worked in fields. His younger brother, Anees dropped out of school in standard VII. Anees worked in a garage to support the family and help his brother to prepare for the IAS exam. His financial condition forced him to go without food for two to three days during his preparation for the exam.

Ansar worked almost twelve hours a day for three years to achieve his IAS dream. His success is especially commendable because of the fact that education wasn’t a priority in his family. In his own words Ansar describes his domestic situation, “Education has never been a watchword in my family. My father, a rickshaw driver, has three wives. My mother is the second wife. My younger brother dropped out of school and my two sisters were married off at an early age. When I told them that I had cleared the UPSC and in all likelihood will be an IAS officer, they were stunned.” Ansar has been given West Bengal cadre. His father used to beat his mother often and his two sisters were married off at ages 14 and 15. However, braving all challenges and with the support of his brother and mother, the perpetual topper during most of his academic career focused on studying and cracking the UPSC exams at first shot.

Even though Ansar’s large family struggled to make ends meet, he remained a bright student Science from Fergusson College, Pune.He thanked Rahul Pandve, his 30-year-old teacher for giving him guidance and support. (Pandve had also cleared the UPSC civil services exam in 2015 with AIR 200).

Ansar said on his success “There is no alternative to hard work. During my struggle, my friends helped me a lot mentally and financially and even my coaching academy waived a portion of fees due to my poor financial condition”.The 21-year-old Muslim lad from Maharashtra had to change his surname to a more acceptable “Shubham” to get accommodation and food without hassles.  He had come to Pune in 2014, as a Fergusson College student.

However, since he belongs to the Other Backward Class category, he is optimistic of an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) posting, which could catapult him as country’s youngest IAS officer

“I was marginalized by three different categories. I am from a backward undeveloped region, I hail from a poor economic background and I belong to a minority community. I will tackle all these issues as an administrator since I have witnessed these issues at close quarters,” Shaikh added.

 

Not eligible to appear for IIT, she got into MIT!

“No student ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him: it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.”- Charles Kendall Adams

Time and again, the flaws of the education system in India have been highlighted. The percentage of marks scored are given more importance than the competence of the student. Without passing school-leaving examinations, one cannot imagine getting admission to a college. Moreover getting into one of the prestigious IIT’s requires cracking the IIT-JEE. The case of seventeen-year-old Malvika Raj Joshi is the perfect example of this anomaly. This Mumbai girl did not attend a school like regular kids but instead was homeschooled. Well, you know how difficult it is to get admissions in a country obsessed with marks?

The making of a Professor

“Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams.”
-Benjamin Carson
He was pulling a rickshaw in Jaipur, on the steep upslope of Brahmapuri.The sweltering heat and the weight of three passengers was making him sweat profusely .He was feeling exhausted. Thinking about the circumstances, that made him a rickshaw puller brought tears in his eyes. His life was confined to the rickshaw, so much so that he had to eat and even sleep there. Sometimes he used to come to drop passengers at the gate of Rajasthan University, but he could not dare to enter the University campus.Lo and behold, this lad has now become an Assistant Professor in Rajasthan University.
Let’s turn the clock of time back by a few years, to track how this incredible success story materialized.Jagdeesh Meena was born in a poor farmer’s family in Karnaver village (District Baswa) Rajasthan. Shortage of irrigation facilities forced his father to abandon farming and work as a mason to sustain his family .Jagdeesh was the second among five siblings. Financial crisis always gripped the family .During his school days he was fond of drawing. “I used to make drawings on the blank spaces in my book, which would annoy the teachers” recalls Jagdeesh.His Art teachers always encouraged him to pursue drawing and painting. In due course of time he passed the Class X examination. As the board and colours were expensive he resorted to making pencil sketches. Sometimes he would go to nearby parks and Jawahar Art Centre to make pencil sketches of people for a paltry sum of Rs 100. “I would make a pencil portrait in just about 10-15 minutes” he recalls. These earnings would supplement his father’s income.

He was always on the lookout for finding ways to earn money. He came to know that some boys used to go to Jaipur and pull rickshaws to earn money. He decided to join them, oblivious of the fact that it involved grueling physical labour.But he was not prepared to sacrifice his studies, so he would pull the rickshaw only seven days in a month. Having earned some money he would come back to his village and rejoin school. Remembering those difficult days he said, “I used to feel suffocated among the rickshaw pullers who used to smoke ‘beedis’ and talk in uncultured language. When asked about the turning point of his life Jagdeesh said, “Whenever I used to come to the gate of Rajasthan University to drop passengers, I would park my rickshaw on the left side of the gate.I used to tell myself that if I compromise on studies now,I will have to remain a rickshaw puller all through my life. It was then, that I nurtured a dream to become a Professor one day.” He continued this routine of rickshaw pulling from Class X to XII.
After passing Class XII Meena got admission in BA Fine Arts in Rajasthan University. He was staying in the hostel. His parents had to borrow money and send him about Rs 2000 every month to meet the hostel expenses. Sometimes even this was not possible owing to financial constraints. He evolved a novel method to earn money. He used to serve as a waiter in marriages and other functions at night. In 2007 Meena got admission in MA (Fine Arts).He used to take drawing classes in private schools to meet the hostel expenses. He remained committed to his goal and each day brought him closer to it. He surprised everyone by topping the list of successful candidates, and winning the gold medal. It was a moment of pride and glory.Jagdeesh thanked God from the core of his heart, as he always believed that one can only put in his best but the result is in the hands on God.
After completing his post-graduation he cleared UGC NET examination in 2009 and subsequently enrolled for PhD .He got selected as an Art teacher in a government school in Rajgarh, where he worked for three years. After a long gap of 31 years the posts of Assistant Professor in Rajasthan University were advertised.Jagdeesh applied and got selected. He is happily married and his wife is an Assistant Engineer. He is busy preparing his thesis for the topic “A study of Indian miniature paintings depicting Mahabharat”.In a message to people in similar situations, he said “don’t be afraid of difficulties or problems, and face them. Chase your dreams and God will help you”.Not content to rest on his laurels ,Jagdeesh wants to keep on perfecting his Art and find a place in the top ten artists of the world.
(The above success story is based on the interview of Jagdeesh Meena by Major Pradeep Khare)

The making of a CA

“Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don’t give up.”

-Rachel Corrie

His parents often engaged in family quarrels over financial issues in the household. He got fed up with the tense atmosphere prevailing at home and ran away at the tender age of just 8 years. He had to do petty jobs as a child labourer in hotels at Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain. When he used to go and give tea to bank officers, he would dream to become like them one day. Luck brought him to Mumbai where he got inspiration from a girl and enrolled for Class X examination through open school. This story which runs on the lines of a film script is soon going to be the subject of a biopic. The real life hero of this story is Mukesh Singh Rajput who has become a qualified Chartered Accountant. Not only this, a biographical account of his struggleful life has been published in the form of a book titled “CA pass –the real story”. The book was released on 01 July 2015.

 

Mukesh did not have the company of bright students for doing group study, so he formed a group of weak students. His sincere efforts broke the age old myth, that blind cannot lead the blind, and he succeeded. During these difficult days he earned money by doing an assortment of odd jobs like security guard, boiler man, and bus conductor and even at octroi posts. After passing Class X examination, Mukesh went to the girl he fancied. His enthusiasm was punctured, when he came to know that she had been married off by her parents. Having lost his first love, he found it difficult to come to terms with life. It took him three years to reconcile. He came back to Bhopal and took up the job of a security guard. In the meantime he developed liking for another girl. When she came to know of it, she got annoyed and chided him for not even passing Class XII.Mukesh took it as a challenge and put his heart and soul into it.No wonder he cleared the examination with good marks in the first attempt. Armed with his new found success, he went to his girlfriend’s house to share the good news. His disappointment knew no bounds when he came to know, that not only she had been married, but had also become a mother. However there seemed a ray of hope as the girl was seeking divorce. Without losing time, Mukesh proposed to her, but she rejected saying “you first do something for your career, before you come to me.” After being second time unlucky in love Mukesh was baffled. In desperation he became a driver.

Then came the turning point of his life. One day he was asked to go and hand over a document to a CA in his office. He was mighty impressed to see the CA’s office! Deep down in his heart he nurtured a dream of becoming a CA himself someday. On enquiring, how one becomes a CA, he was told that it was very difficult.Mukesh determined to stretch himself to realize his dream. He switched over and became the driver of a loading auto, in the hope that he would be able to find some time for studies. His efforts paid off and he completed his graduation in 1998, and that too without any coaching. He got admission in CA Intermediate in 2000.Nonetheless coping up with studies was an uphill task along with his tiring job. He failed six times in the IPCC-Integrated Professional Competence Course, but did not give up. Sure enough, his persistence paid, and he passed in the seventh attempt. Another girl came in his life in those days. He was quite hopeful that she would accept him, but luck again played hide and seek. She committed suicide because of family problems.Mukesh was once again disappointed, but reconciled and decided to complete CA for the sake of his siblings. His efforts bore fruit and in 2010 Mukesh became a full-fledged CA and started practicing in Bhopal.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Mukesh decided to share the secrets of his success. He penned down his experiences during his long struggle, for the benefit of CA aspirants. There is something in this book for both categories of students-those who have all the amenities but find excuses not to study, and also those who have nothing but find reasons to study. He has given tips on memorizing and also how to overcome examination phobia. The book outlines practical approaches of turning failures into achievers.Mukesh has also launched a website to guide students and help them to realize their dreams. He has shown to the world the even a professional course like CA can be completed against all odds, provided one doesn’t give up ,and continues to chase his dreams.

From Peon to CEO of his own company

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.” – Arnold

When he graduated in 1998 with a BA degree from Government College, Dhaliara, near his village in Himachal Pradesh, he hadn’t ever used a computer. He moved to Chandigarh about fifteen years ago. He was jittery about his future, when a friend told him that a computer course would enable him to get a job for ₹ 5000 a month. He came to Chandigarh, in search of a job. Very soon he realized that a plain graduate like him could not get a job, unless he acquires some professional qualification. He was not the one to go back empty-handed. He got a job as a peon at the local Aptech Computer Education Centre, and managed to fund his one-year computer course as well. To save money, he often had to skip meals, because he knew that his parents could not support him as they were not financially well off.

It is my privilege to present before you Mr. Chhotu Sharma who is now is the founder CEO of CS Group. He is a Microsoft Certified Software Developer and has been training IT professionals in Microsoft technologies since last 12 years. He is recognized as “The Guru of Microsoft Technologies”. For his excellent work in the field of education, he has been conferred with the title of “Himachal Gaurav” by the Chief Minister in the year 2007.

Chotu Sharma with Shalini Sharma  

Working as a peon, Chhotu had to spend all day at the centre, which gave him a lot of free time to practice his computer lessons. He also started guiding other students with their programming lessons—and discovering his skills as a teacher. He decided to make a career in the field of computers. After becoming a Microsoft certified software developer, Chhotu continued teaching. He bought a bicycle which he used to reach the houses, where he would provide home tuitions in Computers. He was also offered a job of a part time Computer Instructor in Aptech for their evening classes. By 2000, he was earning enough to buy a motorbike and his first PC, with which he started his own computer institute in a rented two-room flat. In six months he had 80 students and more computers— all in a bigger place.

His students have been picked up by Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft, Accenture, TCS, Infosys and others. In the year 2009, he established CS Soft Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a company offering complete IT solutions in multifarious IT applications. He has been instrumental in shaping the goals and evolving the values of CS Soft Solutions. Pvt. Ltd. His strong penchant for excellence at professional as well as at personal front, backed by a sincere and an honest approach towards life are the basic reasons for the success of the ventures he has launched and actively developed. These qualities of sincerity and honesty easily percolate among his students, ensuring their success in future lives too.

Today, he teaches advanced software development to more than 1000 students in his own Chandigarh-based CS Infotech. About 125 employees work in CS Soft Solutions, his software development company in Mohali. Chhotu also helps those in need: he reaches out to deserving students, funds marriages and helps youngsters from his village get an education. Some of his students testimonials mentioned below speak volumes about the dedication and effectiveness of Chotu Sharma and his faculty members.

Name: – RUNEET VASHISHT

Company: – Microsoft Technologies

My association with Mr Chhotu Sharma goes around a decade back now. He has been a Teacher, Mentor and Friend to me. Mr Sharma has been a pioneer of Technical education; He has always been ahead of the curve in anticipating ever changing technology and dissipating it to budding technologist helping them build their careers.

Name: – Yadvinder Rana

Company: – FISERV

He is a master of technology and has been doing a great job by mentoring, teaching and building good technocrats who are doing well in the IT Industry. I thank him for him for his extraordinary efforts in mounting careers and giving good professionals to IT industry.

It is said ‘behind every successful man, there is a woman’. The woman in Chotu Sharma’s life is Shalini Sharma. She is an embodiment of immense patience and optimism while possessing, sharp analytical as well as people management skills. Sincerity, simplicity and honesty have been her hallmark. She has trained thousands of students since last 10 years. She has prowess in the wide array of languages such as C, C++, C# ASP. Net, Visual Basic, Ajax, Silver Light etc. Her current affiliations include being a Trainer at CS Infotech and the Director at CS Soft Solutions Pvt. Ltd. She received her Bachelor’s in Technology in Computer Science from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Abreast with Chhotu Sharma in imparting technical training, since the existence of CS Group, she’s tirelessly worked with full dedication and sincerity.

“Back in my village, I never thought I’d get this far,” says Chhotu. “But all it takes is a little extra education and effort to make it work.”  When asked about his future plans, Chotu Sharma said, “By providing total solutions we tend to move further for the accomplishment of our vision viz, to be the leader in the industry oriented quality education and training and be the country’s premier institute for certification in the field of ICT.”

The making of a CA

“Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don’t give up.”

-Rachel Corrie

His parents often engaged in family quarrels over financial issues in the household. He got fed up with the tense atmosphere prevailing at home and ran away at the tender age of just 8 years. He had to do petty jobs as a child labourer in hotels at Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain. When he used to go and give tea to bank officers, he would dream to become like them one day. Luck brought him to Mumbai where he got inspiration from a girl and enrolled for Class X examination through open school. This story which runs on the lines of a film script is soon going to be the subject of a biopic. The real life hero of this story is Mukesh Singh Rajput who has become a qualified Chartered Accountant. Not only this, a biographical account of his struggleful life has been published in the form of a book titled “CA pass –the real story”. The book is being released on 01 July 2015.

Mukesh did not have the company of bright students for doing group study, so he formed a group of weak students. His sincere efforts broke the age old myth, that blind cannot lead the blind, and he succeeded. During these difficult days he earned money by doing an assortment of odd jobs like security guard, boiler man, bus conductor and even at octroi posts. After passing Class X examination, Mukesh went to the girl he fancied. His enthusiasm was punctured, when he came to know that she had been married off by her parents. Having lost his first love, he found it difficult to come to terms with life. It took him three years to reconcile. He came back to Bhopal and took up the job of a security guard. In the meantime he developed liking for another girl. When she came to know of it, she got annoyed and chided him for not even passing Class XII.Mukesh took it as a challenge and put his heart and soul into it.No wonder he cleared the examination with good marks in the first attempt. Armed with his new found success, he went to his girlfriend’s house to share the good news. His disappointment knew no bounds when he came to know, that not only she had been married, but had also become a mother. However there seemed a ray of hope as the girl was seeking divorce. Without losing time, Mukesh proposed to her, but she rejected saying”you first do something for your career, before you come to me.” After being second time unlucky in love Mukesh was baffled. In desperation he became a driver.

Then came the turning point of his life. One day he was asked to go and hand over a document to a CA in his office. He was mighty impressed to see the CA’s office! Deep down in his heart he nurtured a dream of becoming a CA himself someday. On enquiring, how does one become a CA, he was told that it was very difficult.Mukesh determined to stretch himself to realize his dream. He switched over and became the driver of a loading auto, in the hope that he would be able to find some time for studies. His efforts paid off and he completed his graduation in 1998, and that too without any coaching. He got admission in CA Intermediate in 2000.Nonetheless coping up with studies was an uphill task along with his tiring job. He failed six times in the IPCC-Integrated Professional Competence Course, but did not give up. Sure enough, his persistence paid, and he passed in the seventh attempt. Another girl came in his life in those days. He was quite hopeful that she would accept him, but luck again played hide and seek. She committed suicide because of family problems.Mukesh was once again disappointed, but reconciled and decided to complete CA for the sake of his siblings. His efforts bore fruit and in 2010 Mukesh became a full-fledged CA and started practicing in Bhopal.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Mukesh decided to share the secrets of his success. He penned down his experiences during his long struggle, for the benefit of CA aspirants. There is something in this book for both categories of students-those who have all the amenities but find excuses not to study, and also those who have nothing but find reasons to study. He has given tips on memorizing and also how to overcome examination phobia. The book outlines practical approaches of turning failures into achievers.Mukesh has also launched a website to guide students and help them to realize their dreams. He has shown to the world the even a professional course like CA can be completed against all odds, provided one doesn’t give up ,and continues to chase his dreams.

Teaching on wheels

    “Of all the hard jobs around, one of the hardest is being a good teacher.”

Maggie Gallagher

Aditya Kumar’s unique mobile cycle school is almost like a landmark of Lucknow— visible in slums and streets every day. For the last 18 years, without charging even one paisa, Aditya has been giving tuitions to slum children, who have never been to a classroom. All his tools of teaching are carried on his bicycle as he pedals 50 to 60 km a day, teaching in five to six locations, from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm. While the slum children are taught in Hindi, he takes English lessons for youth aspiring to enter the job market. He is a traveling teacher who does not need a classroom. While cycling around the city he looks out for children on streets who show an interest in learning English. Extremely poor himself, his passion to help the poorest with education has sustained him. Sometimes, he does not even have money to get his cycle repaired, but some Good Samaritan helps him out.

This frail man has something in common with the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh. He rides a bicycle, which is the election symbol of the Samajwadi Party (SP); and he offers free education — a much-hyped programme of the state government. But the similarities end there. Kumar launched ‘Aditya ki Shiksha Kranti ‘almost two decades ago, in an effort to teach English to youngsters who could not afford conversation classes.  Interestingly he now has many keen students from the shanties, who are improving their English.

A graduate of science from DAV College, Kanpur, Kumar comes from a poverty stricken family. While in school, he worked as a labourer and simultaneously finished his education. “Twelve days in a month I went to school and the rest of the days I worked as a labourer on construction sites. My teachers supported me and admired me for my dedication towards learning,” added Kumar. Hailing from Salempur village of Kayamganj area in Farrukhabad, Kumar left his village of 400 residents in 1992 and came to Kanpur. His motive was to “get the fear of English” out of the minds of students. Kumar said that while he was studying for B.Sc, he feared the “angrezi” (English) in which he was expected to be conversant. The fear always chased him; so much so that he decided to take it “head on”. He decided not only overcome the fear of English himself but also teach English to slum-dwelling kids. By 1995, he was the owner of a second-hand bicycle. He had learnt to “read and write good English”. Soon, he started an “English-speaking school”, which would run mostly on his bicycle.                              .

Life was not easy when he first came to Lucknow to earn a living. For a month he lived on the Charbagh railway station that became his second home. Right there students collected around him and he tutored them. In due course those students who could not afford to pay a fee but wanted to learn English also came. Initially he refused to teach without being paid. “But each time I refused a student I felt bad. One day I just decided to teach everyone who wanted to learn English” Kumar adds with a smile.

“What sir is doing for us is without parallel. No one will teach anyone for free, but he is doing it. Every day without fail, he teaches us. Today if you don’t know English you won’t get a good job. Sir is helping us to realize our dream,” said Rishi Chaudhary, who is preparing for an examination for the post of a probationary officer in a bank.

“Where ever I got students, I would sit and teach — by the roadside, in parks, near slums. I had a board on the cycle, and students would just read it and stop me. I was one of them, I understood what it meant to be poor and without support,” Aditya says, with a grim expression. Aspiring to be a bureaucrat and join the Indian Administrative Service or the Provincial Civil Services, he settled for taking tuitions, for a fee of Rs.300 per month in Kanpur.

Having pedaled in Kanpur and then in Lucknow for a lakh kilometers or more by now, he says he has faced rough times. He has been the target of violence, and people have been suspicious and beaten him up for sitting with a bunch of boys and girls along roadsides.” Then I put up a small board on the cycle, announcing – ‘Aditya Master Saheb’. Things have improved, and on and off there are even people who tip me with Rs.100 or so for food and tea.”

Living in a room that is just five feet square at Nishatganj that was offered to him by a compassionate man, Aditya remarks on life’s ironies: When he first began, he had no students. These days, he has no dearth of students, as girls especially, flock around him to learn English in the hope of finding work at call centers and as receptionists. But most of them can’t afford to pay any fees! It is ironical that the state government spends crores of rupees on education, but cannot offer him support, despite his unrelenting campaign to educate poor kids from slums. Having made several futile attempts to meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his officials, Kumar says he is now fed up of standing in long, serpentine queues.

Kumar’s classes are presently being conducted at Balu Adda, Kudiya Ghat and Samta Mulak Chauraha in Lucknow. Aditya teaches over 2,000 students in a month. Over the last twenty years, he has taught at least one lakh students, he says.

He challenged his limits and became ‘Dictionary man’

“I was given a dictionary when I was seven, and I read it because I had nothing else to read. I read it the way you read a book.”

Jamaica Kincaid

He did not know how to use a dictionary. His father was a class IV dropout and his mother was once completely illiterate. He is one of three children from a family of farmers in Mahiravani, near Nashik. He is the first in his family to have received complete formal education. “My parents were not financially well off, but they were determined to educate us. I originally wanted to become a painter but because I got good grades, I was sent to an engineering college,” he says. Having had schooling in Marathi medium, getting admission to the Government Polytechnic of Ahmednagar was a challenge. He was one among the minority who did not speak English, a factor that prompted some of the other students to leave the course and made him consider the same. “I was on the brink of quitting but I remembered the sacrifices my parents had made to educate me, and I could not let them go waste. When I approached a Professor with my problem, he advised me to get a dictionary. I found it to be a strange word and did not know what to do about it,” he says.

It is my proud privilege to present Mr Sunil Khandbahale   who now happens to be the proud creator of digital dictionaries in 22 vernacular languages. Still he is a picture of unassuming self-assurance and eager observation. For a man who has garnered much acclaim for creating online and mobile-based dictionaries for all the officially recognized Indian languages, he looks around with some awe at the interiors of the Le Meridien hotel in the city, where he was invited to speak about his work at INK 2013. “This is the first time I have sat in a plane,” he reveals with a smile, “I was more worried about checking in and buckling my seat belt than the actual talk.” 

                 

Sunil did eventually learn its meaning and procured a dictionary, spending hours making notes and learning new words. . At the end of the year when the results were out, only four out of the sixty students had passed in all the subjects.” I had almost lost all hopes of completing my studies and becoming an engineer, as I was sure I was not one of those four students who had made it. To everyone’s surprise and most importantly my own, I had topped the class! It was at that moment I understood how strongly my success was connected to my friendship with the Dictionary. Sometimes, I feel I must thank God that I came from a non-English medium background, because of which I could realize the difficulties posed by a new language “says Sunil. The achievement led him to think that his friends who had left the course would have stood a better chance, if they also had access to a dictionary. “The dictionary was my friend, and that friendship had helped me to see this day. So I started making photocopies of my dictionary, with all my notes and observations and sharing it, but the reach was limited. I then considered printing it as a booklet but that raised a lot of new costs which I could not bear. This was in 1997, and computers were becoming popular, so I decided a digital dictionary was the way to go,” he reminisces.

Recalling his struggle with computers in a bid to learn programming Sunil said “With reference to a paper advertisement, I prepared for the entrance exam of a renowned computer institute. I was qualified too but, I was thrown out because, I had no money to pay their fees. I literally begged them. I told them that I was ready to take up even the sweeper’s job, but they didn’t listen. I took this as a challenge. I left my home, locked myself in a ten square feet room with a borrowed computer & books, and started self-learning. I’d do this for 18-20 hours a day. At one point I had to undergo a surgery because of sitting for long hours. After six months however, I had become familiar with almost all the programming languages. “Sunil finally released an online English-Marathi-English dictionary, the first of its kind. The venture met with much praise and soon Sunil was flooded with requests for more languages, which he promptly obliged, “Though my personal expertise could only be used for Marathi, Hindi and English, I soon reached out to linguists and experts in various fields for help, mostly at universities. When they saw that I wanted to create a linguistic community, they were immediately on board, asking for nothing in return.” he added.

Describing his efforts to reach out to the people, Sunil said” I wrote a dictionary program that I wanted – a software which was world’s first ever search engine made in Marathi. It went viral in no time. I started copying and sharing it on CDs but then again, how many CDs? So I decided to set-up a website where the software could be downloaded for free and it became popular. Soon I realized that mobile phones with internet had become popular. I learnt mobile programming and developed multilingual dictionaries on different platforms, but this was not enough. Over 93% of mobile phones in India were just basic phones with no capability to run any kind of application. Then, I figured out the common denominator – SMS. I set-up a SMS service called ‘Dictionary on SMS’ – which I call my inclusive innovation.”

Sunil and his team have now created dictionaries for all vernacular languages to English and vice-versa, with around 22 languages to their credit. However, he is far from done with his efforts, with his dream being a global linguistic community. Elaborating his future plans he said “I have a four-stage plan; the first is to create dictionaries for all officially recognized languages, the second to cover all vernacular languages and dialects, because there are so many, in the third stage we plan to include international languages and the final stage is to integrate all this together into a system where English is not needed as a link and users can directly translate from one language to another.”

And how many of these stages has he completed? “One so far, and it took me thirteen years,” he says with a smile, before adding, “but now things should move faster, thanks to all the help I am getting.” Sunil has built a technology enabled multilingual translation platform for 23 languages in 16 domains with extensive vocabulary of 10 million words/phrases, which is being used by 120 million users in 150 countries. Talking about reaching out to the rural areas Sunil said “Although my technology has been widely recognized and won awards but I realize that, presently it is only in hands of few. I want to give it to those who can benefit the most from it. I am finding my way to rural villages, remote areas and places where most technology has not yet reached. I am providing people in these areas with opportunities for language awareness and maybe most importantly – a window to self-confidence and hope. To give you an example, I distributed dictionary apps to few school dropouts of some villages. Surprisingly, I saw, after a month, that their vocabulary had considerably improved! While farming, grazing and feeding the cattle I watched them play around with words like cow, water, farm, goat etc. Now, my mission is to repeat this success story across the hundreds & thousands of villages.”

Sunil also runs a social organization called Global Prosperity Foundation.Org that was set-up to encourage rural education and development. Since it was education that transformed his life, he wants to gift the same to the underprivileged children. His brother and a colleague are helping him in this venture. His core focus is language, as it’s a huge domain. He has created khandbahale.com as a free multilingual dictionary and khandbahale.org as a lingual fraternity to work on different language related projects. He wants to create seamless, real-time translation platform for all the languages in the world, using which a speaker can speak in his own mother tongue, and the listener will automatically listen to it, in his own mother tongue. No linking language would be required. From not-knowing-dictionary to publicly being titled as Dictionary-Man, Word Smith & Linguistic-Enabler, he has been recognized as Green-Man, Social Entrepreneur, and Inclusive Innovator & Youth-Icon. Sunil has come a long way! Spelling out his secret of success he said “I would like to mention two things. One is – how you look at the problem at micro level and second is- how you take initiative to solve it at macro level.”

A school dropout gets a PhD

“An age is called dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.”

James Michener

V Kathiresan had to drop out of school to support his family. Years later, working for A P J Abdul Kalam as his driver, he was encouraged to restart his education. Today at the age of 47 he has a PhD, has written two books, and is appointed as a lecturer at the Arignar Anna Government Arts College in Vadachennimalai. Anything is possible or shall we say nothing is impossible. V Kathiresan’s story proves that. “I can never forget the role played by Kalamayya (sahib). I worked as a driver with him for five-and-a-half-years and during those long drives, I used to talk to him about my aspirations and dreams. “One day while driving, Ayya suggested that I should resume my studies. He told me that the best way to go about it was through distance mode of education. Ayya used to lecture several students about the importance of education. I used to listen to him speak and got inspired.”

It wasn’t easy for Dr Kathiresan after working at a 10 to 6 job, he would come home and study to catch up on all those lost years. His struggle against the odds has become an example for his students.  One of his students Santhosh Mani, says his teacher’s story is like a fairy tale. “We complain so much about work load and the other burdens of life,” says Mani. “Today I look up to him and tell myself that anything is possible. It is just a matter of dedication and effort.”

 

                    Dr Kathiresan lost his father very early in life and had no choice but to support his family. Though he was always fond of studying, financial problems compelled him to drop out of school. “It was one of the most painful decisions of my life, but I accepted it as a way of life. He trained as an electrician and joined the Indian Army in 1979. His first posting was in Bhopal, then Sikkim followed by Hyderabad. He first met A P J Abdul Kalam at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory in the 1980s. Kalam was DRDO’s director at the time and Kathiresan was deputed as his driver. “I must thank the Almighty that I was given such an opportunity,” says Dr Kathiresan. “If not for Kalamayya’s inspirational words, I would have never been able to achieve this. Even after Ayya left DRDO, I continued to ponder over what he said about the importance of education.”

He started working towards completing his school education. He appeared for the Class X and then Class XII examinations privately and obtained a BA from Madurai Kamraj University through distance education. He then went on to do an MA in Political Science. “I noticed that as the days passed, the urge to pursue higher studies started creeping into my system. I did my B Ed followed by a MEd from Madras University and then an MPhil from Kamraj University. I then did law and finally a PhD from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.”In 2001, he passed the teachers’ recruitment exam, and was selected on merit. His first assignment as a teacher was at Kovilpatti where he worked for eight years. Apart from this he has written four books on history and a travel guide for the Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu.

“After completing my PhD, I called Ayya and told him that I had got a job also. The kind words and the appreciation that he gave me are more important than anything else in this world. He had faith in me and I did not let him down.”Dr Kathiresan cannot forget the role his wife Kasthuri played in his entire struggle. A teacher herself, she was a rock through his difficult times. The couple has decided to ensure that their son Raghavan, who is in Class XII, gets sound academic grooming.Grateful that he, had Kalam as a mentor he now wants to help other students who have not had a chance to complete their education. “I would be only too glad if I could pass this on to several students who have the urge to learn and strive to be the best.”