New Delhi, Apr 14: The journey of 28-year-old Ranjith Ramachandran has been remarkable in many ways, inspiring many to fight adverse circumstances in their lives. Ramachandran has transformed from a night watchman earning a pittance to graduating from the hallowed portals of IIT and now an Assistant Professor at IIM, Ranchi.
Ramachandran uploaded a post on Facebook which reads “An IIM professor was born here”, along with a picture of his dilapidated tiled hut covered with a tarpaulin sheet to prevent rainwater from seeping in. His post went viral and garnered over 37,000 likes on Facebook.
Praising his efforts, Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac also took to Facebook to congratulate Mr Ramachandran, who goes by the name ‘Ranjith R Panathoor’ in the social media, saying he is a source of inspiration to everyone.
Mr. Ramachandran was working as a night watchman at a BSNL telephone exchange at Panathur in Kasaragod, while he pursued his Economics degree from Pious Xth College in the district. He shared his story through a Facebook post on April 9, which has generated a lot of buzz.
College during the day, working at night
Ranjith, in his Facebook post, talked about the struggle of managing his college and job together as he came from a low-income background. “I attended college during the daytime and worked at the telephone exchange at night,” he wrote in his post.
” Due to some luck, I got the job as a night security officer at the Telephone exchange in Panathur. During the day times, I would study. The doors opened in front of me for the academic career that I thought I had lost once…” he said.
Graduating with honors, he got into IIT, Madras, where he found it difficult to study as he knew only Malayalam. Despondent, he decided to quit the PhD programme, but was persuaded by his guide, Dr. Subhash not to do so.
“I decided to fight and realise my dream,” he wrote. Fight he did and earned his doctorate last year. For the last two months, he was an Assistant Professor at Christ University, Bengaluru, and later on went to realise his dream as an assistant professor at IIM.
“I never thought the post would go viral. I posted my life story, hoping that it would inspire a few others. I want everyone to dream well and fight for their dreams. I want other people to get inspired by this and find success,” he told reporters.
Financial hardships and education
Mr Ramachandran recalled in his post that he nearly gave up his school education due to financial hardships. His father is a tailor and his mother, a daily wage worker under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
His parents never insisted he does something specific, moreover, there was hardly anyone to guide him at that time. “It was as if I was set afloat, St. Pious College taught me to speak on the stage. The Centre University of Kerala opened the windows to a world outside Kasargod,” he said.
Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac shared Ranjith Ramachandran’s post and praised his efforts to not give up even when he felt defeated. His Facebook post has proven to be an inspiration to many.
The minister said, “From the moment he felt he was defeated, he turned his life and achieved success and it’s an inspiration to everyone. We have before us the life stories of great personalities, including K R Narayanan, who attained success with extraordinary willpower and became the first citizen of the country,”
“The lives of people like [Mr] Ranjith, who refuse to get discouraged due to various crises and use education as a weapon to overcome social and economic backwardness, are an inspiration to all,” he said, as per PTI reports.
(With PTI inputs)
