Paan-wala's son does a Slumdog Millionaire

A young 24 year old guy Pradeep Shukla has done a Slumdog Millionaire!

His father Chandan Guru (60 yrs) used to sell paan outside the gates of the District Magistrate’s office.  Now, his son, has passed the tough Indian Civil Services exam and may well end up in an office like that DMs office!

What kind of hard work and effort must have gone in making that happen…

Here are two examples of the sacrifice that Guru made for Pradeep so he could become an IAS officer:

“I know to supplement the paltry income generated from the betel shop, my father also worked as a labourer and performed other menial work so that I could continue my studies to fulfil his dream,” Shukla said.

“I remember how my father used to cut his expenses for my studies. One of them was not buying clothes for himself and my mother on festivals. Even in chilly winters, he used to go out for work wearing his old, torn pullover,” said Shukla, who studied in his native Nathupur village in Jaunpur district, some 210 km from Lucknow.

Shukla has 4 other siblings but none of them studied past the 12th standard.  Since he was really good in studies, the family pushed behind him.  After doing his graduation and post graduation from Allahabad University, Pradeep Shukla took the exam without joining any Coaching Classes and secured a 427 rank.  Only the top 50 make it to IAS or IFS.

So many stories like these have come out recently, that one feels now that India is slowly but surely becoming a land where hard work and education can make one fulfill his/her dream….. no matter where one started from!  That is a BIG change!  This is a hall mark of an economy that will prosper in the future.  When meritocracy can be rewarded by the society as a whole irrespective of one’s English diction, or clothes.. or school pedigree.. then the society sees a democratization of wealth.  That is happening now.

Reference Links:

1. Paanwalla’s son does a ‘Slumdog..’, makes it to civil services