Hit by Polio, but standing tall

mujhe bank mein naukri karni hai, says dashrath rudrappa (18), an fybcom student from kirti college. on september 8, international literacy day, the vatsalya foundation, an ngo which works for the upliftment of street children, felicitated dashrath whose right leg is afflicted with polio. the son of a construction worker, dashrath grew on the streets of mumbai.he lived on the pavements of andheri (east) for many years where his parents struggled to raise their five children. their poverty forced dashrath to discontinue his schooling after standard six. mujhe padhna likhna achha lagta hai. mujhe zindagi mein kuchh karne hai, says dashrath, the determination showing through. luckily, the vatsalya foundation picked him up soon after he dropped out of school. the ngo's mahalaxmi centre has been his home for the last seven years. dashrath passed his ssc with 58 per cent marks from the ambedkar school, where vatsalya had got him enrolled. i am the first in my family to have passed the ssc. father studied till standard two and my mother is illiterate. education has made me confident. i hate being treated differently - i don't want pity as i don't consider myself handicapped, he says. i am indebted to the didis and uncles of vatsalya who shaped my life and are helping me to study further. i want to complete my graduation now. my parents could not afford to feed us; education was simply not an option. we didn't even have a house to stay in! now, apart from going to college, dashrath is also doing a computer course at shramik vidya peeth and has learnt block printing too. he feels the need to more fluent in english and is keen to master the language. barely out of his teens, dashrath is fond of acting and singing and, along with other children, acted in play at prithvi theatre a couple of months ago. says swati mukherjee, director secretary of vatsalya, when dashrath came to the centre, he was shy and introverted. today, he is confident. he is very enthusiastic about studies. he worked hard for the ssc exam, taking care to not let his mind wander. he also gives back by teaching block printing to school ildren at bal bhavan and works as a resource person. dashrath is the first vatsalya boy to go to college and has proved to be a role model for other street children. hit by polio, but standing tall