The achievement of a 15 year old boy from Odisha truly proves the saying - When the going gets tough, the tough get going' like no other.
Bikash Sahu, a resident of K Ranipada village under Beguniapada block in Ganjam district passed Matric examinations this year, securing A1 grade. While his exam score would hardly turn heads of many given the trend of this year's results, what separates this boy from others is the tough circumstances from under which he came out with flying colours in the first major test of his life.
Well the story runs like this: Till 2017, things were going easy for Bikash, however in that eventful year, his father left for his heavenly abode and all of a sudden, the entire burden of the family - his mother and sister - fell on his untrained shoulders.
But the adversity failed to deter Bikash as he stepped out to face the challenges the fate had thrown at him.
Then just a high school kid, he started selling fried snacks from a kiosk. Bikash went around villages pushing a cart.
With god's grace, sheer determination and will to succeed in life, the little boy continued in his path of self reliance and juggled between his studies and acting as the only breadwinner of his family.
While most would have given up the hope against this struggle, all the way up until now, Bikash never gave up his dream of pursuing studies to become a learned man.
The two years prior to the HSC examinations were a testing period for him. He had to go extra miles to strike a balance between his business and study.
Though it was a herculean task to keep pace with the study and, at the same time, take care of his sister’s study, Bikash says he fell in love with burning the midnight oil.
On July 6th, the annual class 10 board results were out and Bikash's score stunned many.
Securing 532, he passed the exams in quite a triumphant manner with a A1 grade.
“My father died in 2017. Then I was totally inexperienced about running a family. But to feed three empty stomachs, I had to go around villages to sell fried snacks from a kiosk. After returning home, I would sit on study at 7 pm. I devoted five to seven hours for my study. This year I have passed in A1 grade,” said a visibly elated and excited Bikash.