JOIN US If anyone wants to see what true passion and proper guidance can achieve, they would do well to just take a look at Smitesh Talawadekar who will be awarded eight gold medals for his stupendous performance in MSc (Geology), at Bangalore University’s 48th annual convocation here on Thursday.
After class 12, Talawadekar cleared not only the entrance test for engineering courses in his home state Goa but also succeeded in cracking the tough All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) that guarantees a seat in any NIT and IIIT. But he didn’t do what most of his peers did.
Encouraged by his father, he rather chose to study geology, a far less profitable subject. Talawadekar’s father sensed that his son was meant for other things. “He suggested that I study geology as he knew I was interested in the subject. He asked me to test the waters for a year and then decide,” Talawadekar told Deccan Herald. According to Talawadekar, his father realised his interest when he found him immersed in news reports on weather and articles on planetary sciences in yearbooks and magazines. Talawadekar proved his father right when he bagged the fourth rank in Goa University from where he graduated in BSc with an honours in geology.
Later, he enrolled in MSc (geology) at BU. In March, 2012, he began working as a senior geologist in a water technology and solutions company. He had a meteoric rise ever since. He has already headed 30 projects at Thane, Sewri and other places in Maharashtra. “I am grateful to my father for his guidance,” he said.