Today: 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.'
IMAGE: Impressed with Brijesh's achievement, Aamir Khan met him after he arrived in Mumbai. The actor has asked him to get in touch if he needs help. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Brijesh Saroj
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).
And here I am and believe me it's like a Hollywood film.
There are projectors in the classrooms, everyone speaks in English, people look different, they are so open-minded ... And you can take second, third helpings of food and even order for eggs in the canteen. The toilet even has a flush.
When I told my father I had got into IIT, he said, 'Theek hai. Acchha hai (OK, Good).' He was happy that I would be able to earn money soon.
Mummy is angutha chhap (illiterate). She said you must be doing something worthwhile if you are going so far away to study. I think she was happy just to watch my brother and me being interviewed on TV. (Brijesh's brother Raju, 18, secured the 167th rank in the IIT entrance exam and is at IIT-Kharagpur.)
My parents may not understand the significance of getting into an IIT, but they have always been supportive. We are five brothers and one sister, all good students.
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.
In my entire extended family, only we children are educated. All my cousins, elders in the family... everyone is illiterate.
Going to a Navodaya Vidyalaya was the turning point of my life. I too would have been a Chhotu, Motu, Pinku, working in a dhaba, but for Navodaya and my maths teacher Sunil Mishra.
I was in Class 5, late for class that day. Mishra Sir was solving a Simple Interest problem on the blackboard. The answer was wrong and I told him so. He said I should go to a better school, a Navodaya Vidyalaya, but warned me there was very little time to prepare for the entrance exam.
Most people in the village demotivated me. They would tell my father, 'Why are you educating them? Kaam pe lagao (Make them work).'
IMAGE: Brijesh and his brother Raju (in a white shirt) with their family in Rehualalganj village in UP. Raju also cleared the IIT entrance exam and is in IIT-Kharagpur. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Brijesh Saroj.
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.
As Mishra Sir suggested, I filled out the Navodaya form and studied hard. I passed. I studied at the school from Class 6 to 10. It was a residential school and it was my foundation.
I got three meals a day. I learnt judo-karate and basketball and I'm a regional level player. I also ate paneer for the first time.
The Navodaya school had 40 students in a class, while the village school had 100 students in a class, different age groups all studying together. The teachers gave each student undivided attention.
People ask me what is the difference between life now and before IIT. Zameen aasman ka fark hai (the difference is as wide as heaven from earth). We had no electricity because we couldn't afford it. We had no TV, no fan or running water, or a toilet or a gas cylinder.
In Class 10 during my final exams, the thatched roof of our house fell down. We had to spend a few days in the open. It was only because of the BPL card (Below Poverty Line ration card)]and the milk from our eight goats that we could survive.
When the media found our story, the life that we knew changed. As did the life of the village. Five hundred families in the village who had kachcha houses (made out of mud), got pucca ones (made of brick) with toilets, solar lights and hand pumps.
Tarred roads are being built, there are plans for a hospital and an ITI (Industrial Training Institute), as well as a coaching class for IIT entrance exams.
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.
If there is one thing I want ended in India, it is the caste system.
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