Avid high school footballer and big-time Argentina supporter R. Aravind has achieved the most memorable goal in his life yet. The differently abled boy has cracked the IIT entrance examination to do his family, friends and school proud.
His right hand is incapacitated because of a birth defect, but nothing stopped him from working hard and achieving his goals.
Aravind, who studied at Aditya Vidyashram at Villianur, has qualified in the persons with disability reservation list, with the 31st rank.
The boy, who played in his school football team till Class X, is following the fortunes of Lionel Messi’s team in the world cup. But will they win the cup? “I am not so sure,” he smiles. One thing he can be certain though is his entering the hallowed halls of one of the Indian Institutes of Technology this academic year after sailing through the IIT-JEE.
“It was Aravind’s own efforts which got him here. As parents, we could only encourage him,” says his mother Amutha, a homemaker.
Aravind is, however, modest and says he was not expecting the result and thanks his school and family for his success. Aravind’s younger brother, Manubharti, studying in Class XI, has also set his sights on the IIT, says his father Ramasamy, a schoolteacher.
In the Class XII examination, Aravind scored centum in maths and computer science and 198 in chemistry and physics under the State Board syllabus. “I hope to get into the computer science stream at the IIT. My second choice is mechanical engineering,” says Aravind. He would most likely get into the IIT-Madras, says R. Shivaji, his maths teacher.
Aravind is among the first batch of students from Aditya Gurkul Academy, run by the school, which runs an integrated course preparing toppers for the prestigious IIT JEE. Four students, including Aravind, cleared the JEE mains, which will ensure them places in the top engineering colleges.
The boy’s achievement is a first for the school, says Anandane, founder of the school.
