“My mom had fallen in love with my father when she was barely 15 and eloped to marry him. However, within a few days of marriage, she found that he was already married to someone else, so she decided to part ways with him. By then she was pregnant with me, but decided to raise me alone. She was just 17 and the hardships of life caught up on her, but she says to this day that it was my smile that held her back. I was born with a hearing impairment, so she had to find a school that suited my special needs and to support my education, she took up a lot of odd jobs.

I learned to understand what people were saying by following their lip-sync. I learnt about my mother’s struggle and wanted to give her the life she deserves. I put in my heart and soul into education and went on to pursue my dream – engineering. I got a scholarship from the hands of Dr. Abdul Kalam himself. However, in my final year, I couldn’t clear one paper and was at home trying to clear that while my friends were at convocation.

After finishing my engineering, it was tough to find a job. I attended 1000-odd interviews only to face rejection after rejection. That’s when I chanced upon V-shesh, that helped me groom myself and be interview ready. It’s been five years now that I’ve been working for Wipro in Chennai and life has been getting better. But through all the ups and downs it was only my mother who stood by my side. Her 27-year-long struggle to raise me has borne fruits!”

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