Under kerosene lamps, topper writes his story

So what went right for Shatrunjay? The determination of the 16-year-old, and his family.

The odds were stacked against him. In a state where caste determines everything, Shatrunjay belongs to the backward Lodh-Rajput community. His large family — parents, four siblings — squeezes into a small house that lacks power, TV and telephone. And his district, Badaun, is among UP’s most impoverished.

‘‘I used kerosene oil lamps and gas handas to study,’’ says Shatrunjay.

The struggle would begin in the morning, as the cycle ride — carrying his sister, with a brother in tow — to school in Kachchla passed through an area where abductions and looting are common. So dangerous is the place that a police jeep is parked at the nearby station when the last train pulls in at 8 pm.

Shatrunjay’s brother Vijay recalls: ‘‘His own classmate was abducted while they were studying in Class IX. The family had to pay ransom.’’

What Shatrunjay didn’t lack was inspiration. His father, Kripa Ram Verma, had walked every day to the same school in his time and gone on to rank 13th in the high school examination in 1971. He was later admitted to Moti Lal Nehru Medical College in Allahabad but lost his father in the third year of his course and he had to return home. ‘‘Now his heartfelt desire is to make all his four sons and one daughter doctors,’’ says Kripa Ram’s wife Kusumlata, a Class V dropout.

Shatrunjay isn’t the only one to live his father’s dream. His eldest brother Vijay came second in the high school exam in the whole state in 1994, missing the top honours by one mark. He topped the CPMT exam, did his MBBS from the prestigious KGMC, Lucknow, and is now doing his MD. The second son, Sanjay, has also been selected in CPMT this year.

The two remaining children — Dhananjay and daughter Mithilesh — appeared for the high school exam with Shatrunjay and also managed first division.

‘‘The whole Verma family is brilliant but they are very simple people,’’ says Virendra Bahadur Singh, principal of Radhey Lal Inter College where they studied.

However, such feats are increasingly being seen in UP’s villages. Overall, the state’s education system is in a mess. School buildings are crumbling and teachers busy fighting elections to the Legislative Council. While sources say posts for 30,000 teachers are lying vacant, nearly six lakh candidates are waiting for their BTC (Basic Teachers’ Course) exam results for the past year.

But the success stories are the silver lining. In Khadwaya village of Bulandshahr district, for example, Lalit Rajora battled similar odds to rank 10th in the state in the high school exam. The farmer’s son wants to become an IAS officer and fight corruption. And takes inspiration from elder brother Amit, who is studying B.Sc.

While there is a school in their village, the brothers were sent 16 km away to Shikarpur to first Saraswati Shishu Mandir and later to Suraj Bhan Saraswati Vidya Mandir because the family felt the private schools would be better for their education.

And there are others:
• Piyush Verma, from Shamli in Muzaffarnagar district, ranked 11th and wants to join the IPS
• The district, notorious for kidnappings, murder, loot and extortion, saw five others make it to the merit list of the high school exam this year
• Bulandshahr had two rank-holders
• In Baghpat, another backward area, Pushpendra Vashist from Aminagar Sarai secured 24th position
• In Bijnor district, Akash Kumar of Najibabad was ranked 22.

Some stories have passed into folklore, like the one about the son of a halwai in Ujhani who, it is believed, topped the IAS exam. Or about the girl from Ujhani who stood 20th in her medical entrance exam and is now doing PG from Chandigarh.

In Shatrunjay’s Badaun, his success has the villagers dreaming they may finally get electricity. Political leaders cutting across party lines have been lining up to felicitate him, and showering promises.

Shatrunjay doesn’t seem enamoured of the sudden limelight. He doesn’t want to waste time, even to watch the few battery-operated TVs in his village. His goal is clear: ‘‘I want to become a government doctor…to lead a life serving the public.’’ Pushpendra of Baghpat wants to become an IAS officer, while Lalit has his eyes on the IAS.

The task may be difficult, but what is important is that none — Shatrunjay, Pushpendra or Lalit — thinks it is impossible.

This year, you hear repeatedly, Mayur Maheshwari of Meerut ranked sixth in the all-India IAS exam.