Parents plant dreams for son, he reaps rich harvest

Anekal boy bags highest no. of medals at horti varsity convocation

A R Ravikiran reaped the fruits of hard work against all odds, so to say, bagging 14 gold medals at the seventh convocation of the University of Horticulture Sciences here.

It is a rags-to-riches story for this boy from Kachanayakanahalli in Anekal taluk, Bengaluru Rural district, whose parents Rajanna and Gangamma work in the packing section of the MTR factory at Bommasandra in the taluk for 18 years now.

Their dream now is only to buy a two-acre land to pursue his interest in horticulture. The wish to educate their son germinated in the minds of the illiterate couple when they had to work under young officers, their son's age.

Ravikiran studied at his uncle's place, Kudur in Magadi taluk, before joining the university for BSc (horticulture). Presently, he is doing his MSc in Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Agriculture University, Hebbal, Bengaluru. His area of interest is research.

Another achiever who hogged the limelight at the convocation is Nusrat Ansari, who bagged seven gold medals. The girl, hailing from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, wants to stay back in Karnataka if she gets an opportunity. Her father Nizamuddin Ansari is a doctor by profession. She is presently studying for MSc in fruit science at the Indian Institute of Horticulture, Hebbal.

Basappa Bandi and T Ruchita bagged four gold medals each at the convocation, while S Lavanya got three medals.

Minister for Horticulture S S Mallikarjun, also the pro-chancellor of the university, vice-chancellor Dr D L Maheshwar and others were present.