Kasargod native Surendran K Pattel, who recently became a district judge in Texas in the US, has turned out to be an inspiration as he was once a school dropout engaged in beedi rolling work and hotel housekeeping boy to support his family as well as to pursue his studies.
A native of Balal in Kasargod, 51-year-old Pattel, was sworn in as the 240th district judge of Texas' Fort Bend County recently.
In interactions with a section of the media, Pattel revealed his inspiring rags-to-riches journey.
Born in a financially weak family in Balal, Pattel was forced to stop schooling after the tenth and work as a beedi roller in a nearby beedi company for one year to support his family as well as to raise funds for his studies. Then he resumed pre-degree studies and a degree in political science from a college at Payyanur in the nearby Kannur district.
Later he worked as a housekeeping boy at a hotel in Kozhikode, Malabar Palace, while pursuing law education at Kozhikode.
He started practising at Hosdurg in 1996 and relocated to Delhi in 2005. He went to the US in 2007 after his wife, who is a nurse, got a job at a medical centre. He also completed LL.M. program at the University of Houston Law Center in 2011.
Pattel said that he enjoyed full freedom in taking decisions on his studies as his parents were illiterate. His friends and some lawyers at Hosdurg also supported him in his studies.
(Published 08 January 2023, 20:27 IST)
JOIN US