There are many who enter the portals of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), but very few turn out to be role models. One such story is of Manjunath who hails from a poor daily wage labourer’s family from Yenekal village of Subramanya in Dakshina Kannada district.
Manjunath making it to IIT - Bhubneswar, is a story of achievement and sheer dedication. Hailing from an economically backward family, Manjunath had to help his family and take care of his education expenditure by working as a part-time labourer as he pursued his education.
Born to Siddha Naik-Susheela couple from Harappanahalli in Mysore who migrated to Subramanya 20 years ago for livelihood, Manjunath is the youngest of their three children.
Despite poverty, the couple did their best to provide education to their children.
After completing his few years of primary education at Ashrama school in Subramanya and government school in Yenekal, Manjunath got admitted to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Mudipu where he completed his education from VI Std to II PUC. After he passed the PU exam with flying colours, he took up BSc in Physics, Maths and Computer Science at Canara College in Mangalore and passed the degree with 82 per cent marks.
Manjunath dreamt of joining the IIT after one of his senior collegemates motivated him. He was guided by Physics Professor G Ganesh Prabhu, who helped him to choose books to prepare for entrance test to get into IIT. After passing the exam, he attended the interview at IIT-Bhubaneswar in Odisha on May 10 and 11 and subsequently he has been selected. As Manjunath now stands at a juncture looking for a bright future, he recalls the help he received from a few people whenever he faced tough times.
It includes Ganesh Prasad Nair from Anugraha Education Trust, physical education teacher Shivaram Yenekal, entrepreneur Ravi Kakkepadav and Lokesh Balladka. After completing his graduation in IIT, Manjunath has plans of pursuing post graduation and PhD.
“I always wanted to a be a scientist or a researcher and now I am confident of realising my dream. I will do my best to bring fame to my family and my village,” he said.