Inspite of..
Fighting with an illness is not an easy task
especially when it is a mental illness. He was born with severe epilepsy which is a neurological disorder due
to abnormal birth resulting in complications. Doctors were unsure about his
survival as his condition was fragile and his chance of surviving was almost
null. Each day on Earth was a blessing. According to the medical report he was
to be intensively taken care till the age of 13. It was pretty difficult for
his parents and was a sensitive period for him. Heavy medication with high
dosage since birth critically affected his mental and physical health. His
brain was severely affected and he couldn’t think and read properly. The
medicine almost took away his memory power because of which distinguishing
between objects were not possible. Repetitive epilepsy attacks were always a
threat. An easy task by a child seems to be difficult for him.
Childhood was the time when he was happier because
that phase of lack of understanding made him highly immune to the intentions
and disrespectful behavior by others. In the course of time, he realized that a
rough time and a phase of struggle was going to be his cup of tea. Backed by
poverty and illness, it was quite difficult to go ahead with very few people to
support. He spent most his childhood days at home. Though he still have many
negative memories about his childhood, he chooses to admire the positive side
of it. He grew up as an abnormal child and he believed that he was somehow
different from the rest- gifted with ideas and talents different from the rest. This is what he says about his childhood,” My childhood may not be best
but it was well worth it. Lots of struggle and yet filled with happiness”
He was unable to learn things; it took him repeated
efforts for a long time to understand simple things. He says” It used to take
me almost days to learn to write a single alphabet. I wasn't able to understand
it. I usually had to repeatedly keep on practicing it to learn. So, I used to
spend a lot of my time, to be precise almost 7 to 8 hrs. after school in classes
where I used to practice. To my luck, the teachers who taught me were very
passionate and deviated towards making me learn; they put in a lot of efforts
to train me and shape my knowledge. Many of them came up with some creative
ways to make me learn, which helped me a lot. It's because of my teachers, I
learned the most perfect method of studying and understanding. It's like there
is always a different way to learn something and that way is through applying
it again and again. If it wasn't for my teacher, I don't think I would have
made this far. To be honest, my intelligence developed through all this and gave
me a new confidence that was the key to making a difference in my life.”
They taught him to find different ways to learn
something or make things work for him. At first his teachers were harsh towards
him. They punished him a lot and even today he appreciates them for it. Many of
them knew his condition, so they tried putting him through various situations
in studies. For e.g. he had a bit difficulty in English, so one his teacher (and
lifelong mentor) gave him a high-level essay book. The teacher had asked him to
read one essay per day without skipping any word. At first it took him 2 days just
to read a single essay which then came down to few hours and then just minutes
to read them.
A major part of his life was on the hospital bed
peeking through the window and wishing for a normal life. His case was under
two of the child expert specialists of the country which lead the family to a
dead broke situation then. Being ragged by my schoolmates, being blamed for
others mistake was his everyday story during his schooldays. He found it
difficult to have friends. The truth is
that he had no friends. Basically, he was that extra baggage, that everyone
left behind except his parents. His weak mental health sometimes even let them
frustrated. Society looked at him with a judgmental look and he was rejected
and ignored by many. Looking back to those time, he says that he has learnt a
lot on how to deal with rejections and failure.
His path to the normal life was not so easy. He says that he might have written each alphabet almost few thousand times so that it would stay in his memory. He knew he could never be life others hence he started to work on his weakness and to his surprise he found out ways to get things work for him. Even though an abnormal life embarrassed him, deep inside he had a dream to go back to normal life, to lead a life like his friends and to fight the game till he won. The only thing that inspired him was his DREAM. Every day he used to visualize ‘the life that he wanted to live.’ Every day he used to go to bed with a mind all set to get ready for the new battle of tomorrow. His ‘never give up attitude’ helped him travel on the track that would lead him to his dream. Short victories never distracted him. He believed that he had to compete with himself every day to be a better version of him day by day.
Consistency in practicing was his strength. He knew he was behind but never gave up in life. He had gone through tough times due to societal pressure. Times were tough and no one could change the circumstances. He moved ahead with the hope that the circumstances would surely not remain the same. Giving up was always an option, but he challenged his failure with persistent efforts. When a child of his age would learn lessons, he learnt life lessons. After growing up, he visualized it like levels of a game where the rule was that he could only go to the next level after learning the lesson that life taught.
There were times when, he had no strength to go ahead
in life. But being stubborn, he would always make it to point to visualize his
dream to lead his dream life. When life was meaningless, he found a meaning to
live. People used to treat him differently. He would accept that and move on
because since then he knew he couldn’t change their thinking. Learnt to ignore
from a very early stage. But of course, it did hurt him as a child. Comparing
to the current situation, all he wants to say is,” People were sure I would
remain dumb and I knew I couldn’t change their opinion. But I knew success
could change my life and that’s all I did. I got success and the society
eventually changed their opinion.”
What helped him to be what he is today is a lot of
practicing. Self-improvement and taking efforts to work out things were his
best practices from having a vacuous mind to what he is today.
He says,” Today I just see myself as a person who
never gave up on my belief and dream. That’s the only thing that make me wake
up every day with a new confidence that I haven’t given up yet. I took every new
day as a new opportunity to take a step closer to my dreams. By hard work or
luck anyway I was able to achieve many of my goals whether that may be
academic, career or self-development. I think of my achievements as the result
of my struggle and faith of those who believed and never gave up on me. It’s
because of them I was able to be a topper in SSC and HSC and achieved
scholarships. I got into some of the Top Institutes in my state including IIT. I
was able to develop several ideas and machines that added to my excitement and
got me to work with some of the most prestigious and well-known organizations
like DRDO. According to me, if you are crazy enough to believe in your dream and
work for it, no matter what comes your way and how impossible it seems, luck and
success will follow you anyhow.”
Talking about his passion he says,” Robotics is
something every one of us is fascinated about. It all started with my end semester
project, where I was bored with usual Computer Science Subject and with projects
that other students came up it. I had several ideas for my project but one that
interested me was Robotics. To be honest, robotics was not a part of my
curriculum nor have I come across it in my life. It was like jumping into deep
water with no life support. Everyone around me said that its impossible and
that I won’t be able to make it. Of course,
it was hard but with strong will I found a way. I was of strong belief that the
key to developing an Advanced AI lies in coordination of Data Science and AI
coupled together. Hats what got me into Data Science Field. A Great sheer of luck
and belief in myself and my dreams. I believed in my future & myself, knowing
that I could make it better. All I did was remind myself of dreams every single
day.”
So this was about Aniket Bharathi, a Data Science student. He has been spending the lock down period by investing his time in the field of Robotics. And what about you?
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