Two sons of a daily wager dad have cracked IITJEE & are in the Top 500, yet they doesnt have 1L to pay before 25th June: 18-year-old Raju Saroj and his 19-year-old brother Brijesh from UP’s Pratapgarh district cracked the IIT entrance test-one securing the rank 167 and the other 410. But for their poor dad, Dharamraj Saroj, it doesn’t mean much. For this daily wage labourer, who works in a Surat mill and barely manages to run a family of seven, raising Rs 1 lakh for their admission into the prestigious institution has taken away all his joy.

When sons – Raju and Brijesh shared the news with Dharamraj, he didn’t even know what an IIT meant and why it was such a big deal. Today, Dharamraj knows. But he isn’t celebrating. Raju ranked 167 and elder brother Brijesh 410. “True, it’s a great achievement, but we’re worried about making it, that too before the counseling date of June 25. Banks would give us loans only after we get admission,” Raju told TOI.

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Dharamraj and his family live in a rundown mud hut with a tarpaulin thatch at Rehua Lalganj village. In the name of property, Dharamraj owns eight goats, one cycle, and a table fan. Now he is worried about how to raise Rs 1 lakh (Rs 30,000 admission fee and Rs 20,000 for the first semester) to get the boys admitted to the country’s best tech institution. He desperately needs Rs 1 lakh for their admission fees. But that’s an astronomical sum, for he barely makes ends meet. “Working double shift in Surat earns me Rs 12,000 per month. Things were smooth when these two boys got admitted to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Pratapgarh and also bagged scholarships for preparing for their IIT entrance exam. But now what? Where to raise the money from? I don’t even own a single inch of land to sell,” lamented Dharamraj.

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Both boys scored over 95% in their Class X exams, after which they were picked for Dakshina’ scholarship programme. “Our village has a number of sharp students, but don’t know that dreams don’t need facilities to support them. It’s the commitment that matters,” Brijesh told TOI over the phone from Patna. “I’ll opt for electrical engineering and after finishing studies at IIT, prepare for IAS. A district magistrate can do a lot more for people,” he added. While Brijesh coached in Super-30 of Patna, for Raju it was his first attempt.

Raju, though, wants to get an MBA after IIT and make money for himself and his family. “We’ve been brought up in extremely adverse conditions. Our family of seven lives in two small rooms that has two CFL bulbs,” he said, adding “Had it not been for our school, where we got three meals and scholarships for IIT preparations, things would have been different,”

Let’s all hope that these two IIT rank holders get helped for their studies and have a bright future.

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