New house, life for night-school Mumbai topper

He's moved into the posh managers’ quarters of the Payyade International Hotel in Kandivili, he says. And the tone suggests he wouldn&#...

He’s moved into the posh managers’ quarters of the Payyade International Hotel in Kandivili, he says. And the tone suggests he wouldn’t mind some help with the fancy faucets.

Sunil Shetty, local hero in Naigaon near Vasai and Std X topper among night-schoolers, still doesn’t know what the fuss is all about. At his new residence on the posh hotel premises of the popular Sarovar Restaurant, he’s all gratitude for his new-found guardian hotelier Dr Padmanabha Hotel. ‘‘I’ve not been asked to even visit the hotel,’’ he says earnestly, ‘‘I just help the front-desk staff or take calls sometimes.’’

Dressed formally in a striped blue shirt and black trousers, sporting a taveez, the sprightly teenager smiles his toothy grin and introduces his new friends. Says front-desk staffer Ankit Khandelwal: ‘‘He’s like a celebrity, but always helping.’’

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Semi-stardom and new comforts haven’t changed him. His favourite hobbies are still reading non-fiction and drawing. And he’s still painfully uneasy in front of a camera.

His day begins early. After breakfast at Sarovar — he grins almost maliciously at this point — he spends the morning at Payyade. He reads, helps with whatever he can. He often visits his school in the evenings and catches up with friends. He soon won’t have all this idle time, once classes begin at Patkar College, Goregaon.

What is it like, to finally not have to work while studying? Prod him on preparations for college and he replies: ‘‘Well, if there’s any kind of ragging, I’ll go straight to the principal. Basically, I want to just study hard.’’

He’s opted for the Science stream, but has not decided on a career. For now, he wants to join yoga classes and then let his college performance do the talking.

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An avid yoga and spirituality enthusiast, Sunil’s latest literary discoveries are President Kalam’s Wings of Fire and Viveka Veena by Swami Vivekananda.