Bengaluru: This is the story of how hard work and perseverance always pays rich dividend.
All of 17, Mahesh B has scored 616 marks out of 625 and that is when the hardships that the teenager has faced to reach her has come to focus.
Hailing from Yadagir, the family of Mahesh migrated to Bengaluru as daily wage workers. When most of his contemporaries had pen, books, mobiles phone and gadgets in hands, Mahesh toiled in construction sites.
Having taken only five days break before examination, on Monday Mahesh emerged as one of the toppers, leaving jaws dropped.
In a dilapidated shanty in Malleshpalya lives Mahesh and his family- his mother Mallamma, a domestic worker, one older brother, who works as a tempo driver and a younger brother.
On Tuesday there was an unexpected guest at Mahesh’s home. Minister for Education Suresh Kumar walked into this tiny house and patted the back of the young achiever and asked him to never give up on his dreams.
After felicitating the boy, Kumar took to FB and said that his eyes turned moist when he met the family of Mahesh and saw the condition in which he came up to write the SSLC examination.
A student of government-run Karnataka Public School in Jeevanbhimanagar, Mahesh is truly an inspiration. The condition of the school is not any different from the harsh realities that Mahesh has been facing. Without teachers for several subjects, the students managed to work on their own with the help of teachers teaching other subjects.
Mahesh says that lockdown had left his family in utter desperation as none had work. “It was food kits from BBMP that kept us alive,” he recalled.
Speaking about his preparations, Mahesh said that he banked on textbooks, but his personal problem gave him very little time to focus on studies.
” I did expect about 90 per cent marks, but I never expected to come out as a topper. From here, I want to take up science for PUC and want to grow up to become a teacher,” he said.
He also requested Minister Suresh Kumar to appoint teachers to all government schools.
