From cattle rearing to IIT; a dream come true

An article, mailed across on the IIT community,

From cattle rearing to IIT; a dream come true

Hyderabad, June 16: The journey from agriculture fields and cattle rearing to IIT and institutions equivalent to it is arduous. But three students coming from remote villages in AP have made it.

During vacation of the college - AP Social Welfare Junior College in Nagole here - T Venkateshwarlu and M Raju Naik used to work as farm labourers to help their parents. Rama Dasu, however, used to take care of cattle.

For them, their college was a temple of learning. They were among the 32 students, who took the examination.

Venkateshwarlu got selected in IIST (Pune) and IISER (Kolkata) and Ramadasu secured 132nd rank and is expecting a seat in any one of the seven IITs and IISTs.

Raju Naik who got 251st rank in IIT is interested in Electronic and Communication Engineering. Apart from this, Raju Naik and Venkateshwarlu secured ranks in the AIEEE (B.Tech) exam, while Rama Dasu got rank in AIEEE (B.Arch ) test.

Venkateshwarlu, the eldest son in his family says: "There is no engineering student in my native village Paluru near Nellore. I wanted to become one. I know IIT would change my life for ever. I studied hard, spending 16 hours a day on studies. The college staff helped me in my studies", he recalls.

Rama Dasu, elder son of Ramakrishna and Chittamma, had to travel by bus and train to reach Nagole institution from remote G Pangidigudem village in West Godavari. He was the first person from his village to enter a engineering course. "Now I want to encourage my younger brother and two sisters to
study", he said.

M Raju Naik, is a wonder boy, according to the college staff. He comes from a remote tribal hamlet Muthyalapadu Tanda in Kurnool. To reach the nearest bus stop, Raju Naik had to walk 3 km. He is the only son to his parents and has three elder sisters, who discontinued studies at an early stage.

"After coming to know about IIT, I decided that it should be my life's goal", he says. Perceiving his zeal, teachers gave all the support he needed. "Raju is without books only when he sleeps. He is a promising kid", a college teacher says.

Hoping it would be the Genesis and not the Nemesis of the dream.. I'd only like to say, All the best.

Wanderer

Of the Head and the Heart - III

The ongoing battle between the head and the heart, continued from the previous entry

Head: So if they didn’t come all this far, weren’t you better off?

Heart: I’d have been fine. It was you who got impressed and interested time and again and got things this far. ‘This is only reasonable’, ‘don’t be a chauvinist’, ‘give her some space’, ‘be rational’, ‘let her be herself’, ‘you can’t ask her to change for you’- ALL OF THESE HAVE BEEN PUSHED DOWN MY THROAT BY YOU. If it weren’t for you, we’d have probably fought hugely over one of these things and parted ways long ago.

Head: which would’ve been good for you as well as me…

Heart: Haah. I have learnt enough lessons to find the whole thing worthwhile.

Head: You really don’t have much to say do you? Go on.. with the same raga.

Heart: What do you think I should’ve done?

Head: Ask what you shouldn’t have done!

Heart: Stop acting high and mighty. I know I’ve goofed up, and brought myself pain, but I know how to handle my affairs on my own.

Head: Yeah, you know how to handle your affairs. And then you come back to me, crying away to glory like someone snatched your lollypop away.

Heart: I would’ve made a total peace had someone snatched it away, but well..

Head: you’ve lost it. You’re a born loser aren’t you?

Heart: sometimes, it’s more fun losing than winning. Would you have enjoyed more if we’d parted on bitter terms, thanks to our reasonability and your insistence on letting her go without meeting one last time…

Head: Wouldn’t it be better? We’d taken a decision, we would stick with it. We’d move on in life.. there’s no dearth of good people on the planet!

Heart: yeah, if the world were left to the likes of you, you’ll never let love blossom.

Head: let love blossom.. funny language you’ve started using.. where did you learn this by the way? Have you been listening to mushy songs of late?

Heart: relax.. not about mushy songs.. it just occurred like that, and seemed relevant!

Head: So Mr. blossoming love, you really think you made anywhere with this pursuit of yours?

Heart: I surely did. The love is on both sides.. but it’s you who comes in between and cause issues.

Head: I can already see what love is doing to you. You’re again blaming me for this as well. Wonderful!

Heart: You don’t trust me.. you think she behaves in all these fashions because she doesn’t love me?

Head: She might love you, but only as long as she doesn’t see your real self.

Heart: Honesty matters head.. haven’t you always been the communication freak? Then how come you let such a huge communication gap occur.. why were the mutual expectations always so unclear?

Head: they weren’t unclear. They’ve always been established.. of course, not pressed upon.

Heart: you think she knows that I’m an attention freak, and possessive to crazy extents and so many things about me.. that I hoped she’d know and appreciate..

Head: well, having known you for all this while, shouldn’t all of this become obvious to her? I mean come on, you insisted that you wanted to spend some time together.. and is this what you call some pleasant time together? Splitting your own personality to resolve your inner conflict?

Heart: what more could I’ve done anyway?

Head: nothing, you couldn’t have done anything. Now let her be, and let yourself be. It’ll get over in a few hours. And all shall be fine.

Heart: I don’t know.. I somehow don’t feel right.

just a break... to be continued!

wanderer