Braving frail health and poverty, the son of an auto rickshaw driver has scored a creditable 470 marks in the SSLC examinations studying in a Corporation school in Tiruchi.
R. Raghunathan of MGR Nagar near Sangiliandapuram, in the city is the topper of the Corporation High School at Senthaneerpuram in the city. The boy, who has a chronic condition of nose bleed, aspires to become a civil servant, say his parents.
“His wish is to become a Collector. I can extend him all moral support, but not sure whether I can support him financially. But I will have to find the means for his higher studies,” says Ranjith Kumar, his father, who drives an auto rickshaw. He is yet to clear the loan taken for the purchase of the auto rickshaw and has a younger son to support.
His wife, Loganayaki, who works as a housemaid, said her son, now at a relative house in Usilampatti on vacation, has been afflicted by a heart condition and has periodic nose bleeds.
But she was unable to specify his condition. “A couple of years back, we took him to a private hospital and the doctors said he has a problem in his heart valve. He bleeds from the nose, whenever he gets tensed up. It has been chronic right from a young age. Initially, we went for his treatment to the government hospital in the city but in recent years we have not taken him for any treatment as the frequency of nose bleed has come down. I have left it to God as we cannot afford expensive treatment. But he used to study well,” she says.
S.Esther, the headmistress of the school, said that the boy was a bright student but his health has been frail, necessitating special care from the teachers.
