Bengaluru boy moves out of shanty and steps into IIT campus to study physics
- Veeresh, who lives in a makeshift shanty in a Bengaluru park secured a rank of 807 in IIT JEE exam.
- Born to migrant daily wage labourers, Veeresh didn't have the means to study for the exam.
- However, he received help from coaching institutes who waived his fees.
FollowVeeresh dreamt big and never lost sight of it. This Bengaluru boy is the city’s pride, one of the few in the country to have cracked the IIT JEE Entrance. He has secured a rank of 807 and hopes to study Physics in IIT Mumbai or Madras. But getting there wasn’t easy for Veeresh.
Born to migrant daily wage labourers and living in a shanty in a Bengaluru park, Veeresh didn’t have electricity or money to study for the exams. He said that his father connected wires and drew electricity from the poles in the park.
“My parents never told us how they struggled to arrange money for our studies,” he said, adding that it’s his turn now to pay back his parents, Seenappa and Bhagyamma.The couple migrated from Andhra Pradesh 21 years ago in search of better jobs. Since then, they’ve worked in construction sites, as domestic help and as gardeners. But they never cut costs when it came to their son’s education.
Now, Veeresh’s parents brim with joy as he sets out to live his dream in of the most prestigious campuses in the country. They supported him even after he failed to crack the exam the first time.
His mother, Bhagyamma said, “I thought I would get him to join a degree course so he could start earning soon and help the family. But he was firm on becoming an engineer... So we allowed him to study whatever he wanted,” Times of India quoted her as saying.
Veeresh said he first joined a coaching institute, which waived its fee of Rs 2 lakh. However, he didn’t crack the exam and later walked into Allen Institute in Jayanagar.
The coaching centre took him in after he explained his situation. Veeresh stumbled upon a different problem soon afterwards. He couldn’t study at home due to the lack of power and the institute allowed him to move into the guard’s cabin.
Veeresh moved in with his books, a blanket and a bed sheet and rarely met his parents. The fact that he’s secured a seat in IIT is not lost on his parents or his coaching institute. The centre has gone one step further and is helping him by funding his first year fee, the Times of India report stated.
Even though Veeresh is thrilled that he’s going to live his dreams in IIT, he said he can never forget his humble beginnings. He said he has the happiest memories of living in his make shift house. His only ambition is to earn enough money for his parents.
“I want to earn good money for them so they don't have to suffer like they have in the past 21 years. My mother has a back problem, yet she works on construction sites. I don't want her to work,” he said.
