26/01/2017
The Story Of Hard Work, Passion & Service
Introduction:
Mr. Anand is best known for the Super 30 programme, which he started in Patna, Bihar in 2002, to provide coaching to economically backward students for IIT-JEE entrance examinations. During this program students are provided absolutely free coaching, lodging and food. Super 30 targets students from extremely poor families. Some estimates indicate that till 2016, 366 out of the 420 students of this programme had made it to IITs giving an astounding success ratio of over 87% for admissions into IITs alone which is said to be among the toughest exams in the world with acceptance ratio of less than 1%. Mr. Anand has been invited by the prestigious MIT and Harvard University to speak on his globally acclaimed effort to mentor students from the underprivileged sections. Mr. Anand has received numerous awards and recognitions around the world. Super 30 does it accept any donation or aid from any individual, government and corporate.
The story of hard work, passion and service...
Adapted from the speech delivered during NJ PBC event in 2014 in Mumbai.
I wish to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to speak here. When I got the invitation for this speech, I wondered what a simple teacher could speak to an audience of investment advisors. I have come here to share my life story and my experiences with you. I will not share any fundas, formulas with you but how one can overcome challenges and difficulties in life and still progress against them through my life examples.
Success story: Santosh
This story is about Mr. Santosh. He is from the village Beeta, about 40-50 kms off Patna. Santosh's parents are agricultural labourers and their lifetime wish was to see Santosh study and become a successful man. Santosh went to a government school, the facilities and quality of education of which, we can very well imagine. Many a times, Santosh even did not even have the books to study from, so he used to borrow books from others in his village. He also sold vegetables on roadsides in the evenings. With lots of struggle and hard work, he passed his 10th exam. People around him, suggested him to pursue engineering. Santosh came to Patna and wandered around looking for coaching centers, but no one supported him or agreed to teach him. In the end, he came to us and we could see great determination and passion to learn, in him, so we enrolled him in our programme. For two years, Santosh worked exceptionally hard, and the fruits of his hard work were paid when he was finallly selected for IIT Kharagpur. In IIT too, Santosh worked very hard and shined academically. He created records and even wrote papers from IIT. His fame spread and eventually came to notice of an American magazine – Business Week which showcased his life story. Today Santosh, once an agricultural labourer, a vegetable vendor, is a Professor in Europe. His story show us that if we have the will, determination and are ready to work hard, then challenging situations do not matter. You will succeed one day.
Success story: Anupam
The second story is that of Anupam. Anupam's father was a rickshaw driver and he lived in a hut in slums alongside a road. Anupam's mother wanted her son to study. Anupam went to government schools and cleared his boards. Thereafter, Anupam's mother brought him to us to enroll him in our programme. I took a simple test to check Anupam's skills and suggested that he needs few more years of preparation and then he could come back. Anupam's mother cried a lot and requested us to accept him. Eventually my mother requested me to accept him hoping that even if he does not get into IIT, at least he will learn something and will be able to get into some decent college and then get a decent job. One fine day, Anupam's father was beaten up for not paying bribes to policemen and he got ill. Anupam then had to leave the programme in between for about 25 days to support his family. He used to drive rickshaw throughout the day and then study in the night and only returned to the programme after his father got well. Anupam continued to work hard and sometimes even got depressed. We motivated him to continue to work hard as only education could lift him and his family from poverty. Anupam did great hard work and a day came when Anupam not only did his IIT but also completed his IIM. Today, Anupam is employed with a very attractive package.
Success story: Anup
There is another story of Anup. He belonged to an extremely poor family. On one rainy day there was nothing to eat at home. Anup was a small kid and he asked his mother for some food. His mother requested Anup's father to at least get some rice from somewhere. His father said that he will try to get some rice and asked his mother to boil water till he returns. Time passed by and a day was over and his father was nowhere to be seen. Anup's mother went to register a complaint with the police but even the police shooed them away and refused to register any complaint. His father never came back but Anup's mother did not give up. She worked as a labourer on road construction in Sasaram during the day and taught Anup after work. Anup used to walk 7 kms daily to government school to study and used to work hard. Hoping for a better future for her son, she came to Patna and used to sleep on railway platforms at night. When she and Anup came to our home she was not even wearing slippers. That was their situation. We accepted Anup. He worked very hard and because of his hard work he secured an impressive rank in IIT. After completing his course from IIT Bombay, he completed his training in Burj Khalifa, Dubai and is presently well employed in Mumbai.
Success story: Shashi
Another story is of Shashi. He too belonged to a very poor family. They did not have money even to buy medicines. Their poverty saw the death of the younger brother of Shashi. Shashi used to feel very frustrated and could not study properly due to poverty. When Shashi and his father came to us, they cried a lot and requested our help. Shashi did great hard work, got into IIT. Shashi did tremendous hard work in IIT Kharagpur too and established many records there. The same Shashi is now a very well known research scholar in France and is about to become a lecturer.
About my background.
There are so many more stories. There are about 360 students whom we have kept in our programmes and we have created 360 stories. But why have we done this? There is also a story behind this.
My father was a postal employee in railways. We lived besides railway tracks in a small home. It was a joint family and my father used to care for our extended joint family with limited means. It was my father's dream that I study. I studied from government schools and did well in studies. Others would travel to distant places like Delhi, Mumbai for higher studies but I chose to stay in Patna only. I was good at maths and I wanted to be a scientist and even my father motivated me by bringing books and things to experiment. I even wrote 4 papers during my undergraduate studies and professors at Patna University began to take notice and I received invitations for talks on mathematics in colleges. Someone suggested me to apply to Cambridge University and I applied and got admission there. Everyone was happy but our financial condition was such that we could never even buy travel tickets. There was a story carried by Times of India too about my situation, requesting for funds. But no help or sponsorship came forth. I was supposed to go to Cambridge on 1st October 1994. Due to lack of funds my father was under great stress and suddenly on 23rd August 1994, he collapsed and died at home. After that, the entire family's responsibility fell onto my shoulders.
Super 30 Programme
I had to do something and my younger brother suggested that since I loved learning and teaching, I should try to do something related to that. I then started the Ramanujan School of Mathematics. We started with meager means and there was no fixed fee charged. People could contribute whatever they wished. Slowly, we started getting more students as coaching classes trend caught up. Then came a time when we were thinking about the next step. During that time, a student named OBC Abhishek came to us for admission. He requested us to pay in installments since he did not have money. Since he had no money, on inquiring we came to know that for staying in Patna, he used to work as a house help for entire day and studied at night. When we went to that place, we saw Abhishek covered in sweat and living in abysmal conditions. This made us think a lot and my younger brother suggested that time has come that we think of something for society.
Super 30 was born from that idea. Everyone agreed and supported my idea. Even my wife who was an IIT passout working in Bangalore liked the idea and supported me. At Super 30 we don't charge any fee but we administer a test to select the most deserving 30 students who cannot afford proper coaching classes irrespective of any caste or religion. At Super 30, the students are like a family and we all stay together. My entire family, including my wife and mother are engaged in caring for these students. With some volunteers, we all teach these students to excel in IIT exams. Since the students in the programme are often from marginalised, underprivileged society, we had to adopt new techniques of teaching while giving confidence and self respect to them. Thankfully Super 30 is doing very well and we are now widely recognised. At Super 30 we still do not charge any fee but thankfully we are able to provide for the basic necessities for all our students. Today there are many students like Abhishek who secured rank 428 in IIT in general category, who have studied with us and became successful. As my mother puts it across, she gets great happiness to see students getting into IITs especially after her son was not able to get into Cambridge due to lack of funds. We all selflessly work for this happiness.
Success Mantra for All:
I would now share the success mantra which I teach to my students and which is important for everyone.
1. Tremendous thirst:
There has to be a great passion and desire to achieve a particular goal. It should be so strong that we cannot live without it, be it studies, investment targets or anything. If you can create such thirst then you will eventually succeed.
2. Positive thinking:
We may face difficulties, have less resources, come from unfavourable backgrounds, then too we must think positively. Think that many others have done it so why can't I?
3. Continuous hard work:
Hard work is very obvious. Today the true success of Super 30 is because of the hard work of the students who study for 14-16 hours a day with complete focus and dedication. With continuous hard work anything is possible.
In the end I would just like to say that...
Bujhi hui sama phir se jal sakti hai,
Bhayankar se bhayankar tofano se kashti nikal sakti hai,
Kabhi niraash na ho, mayoos na ho, mehnat karen,
Dekhen ki usse aapki and pure desh ki jaroor takhdeer badal sakti hai...
Jai Bharat. Jai Hind.
Thank you.
