There are times when we stumble upon stories that are a source of inspiration — knowing them is like knowing the people associated with those stories. In a post that’s now viral, Juhi Kore, a Master’s degree holder from the University of Oxford shared about her grandfather, and how he’s her role model.
In the LinkedIn post, she mentioned that her grandfather belonged to a lower caste family in a village in Maharashtra, and as much as he wanted to study, he wasn’t given the same education as the other boys his age. Given that he was the oldest son, his family wanted him to work on their farm, and they were also worried about the fact that he might get bullied at school because of his caste.
That determined young boy made a deal with his parents to work on the farm from 3AM, before anyone else was awake, and to go to school for the second half of the morning. After a 1.5-hour walk to school, without any decent footwear, he wasn’t even allowed to sit inside the classroom.
Juhi then added that he’d borrow old books from other (scheduled caste) students and sit under a lamp post to study at night. He then managed to outrank all the students, and realizing his potential, the school principal paid for his schooling and living expenses.
The boy went on to learn English, move to the city of dreams (Bombay), get his Bachelor’s in Law (while working full-time as a cleaner in a government building) and many years later, attained his Master’s aged 60.
Adding that her grandfather was the happiest man when she had shared the news of her acceptance to the University, Juhi wrote that it was their shared dream. She wrote the note dedicating this milestone of being a graduate from the University of Oxford to her grandfather, who unfortunately passed away over a year ago.
In just two generations, he turned his reality of not being allowed to sit inside the classroom to having a granddaughter walk through the halls of the best university in the world. I’m so proud of him and I hope he’s proud of his legacy.
And the internet is understandably overwhelmed.
Read the entire post here.
On some days, the internet is a wholesome place, and we’re all for it.