An inspiring journey from the slums of Mumbai to ISRO

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." – Henry Ford

Prathamesh Hirve, Scientist, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) never took his eyes from his goal despite it all. His hard work, self-belief and determination helped him realize his dreams.Hirve completed his engineering from Smt Indira Gandhi College of Engineering in Navi Mumbai and has also interned in companies like TATA steel and L&T. Getting selected for a Diploma was the initial step to his achieving his dream. But his journey to success was not an easy one.

When he attended a career guidance session, he was told to choose a stream different from science as he may not have aptitude for it. Coming from a Marathi medium school, he faced difficulty in understanding the technical terms and concepts in English when suddenly exposed to them while pursuing diploma. Many advised him that engineering wasn’t his cup of tea and it required immense talent. Living in a densely populated slum at Mumbai in a small deteriorated residence with very little resources could have added to his problems. These were a few of his problems but it never made him disheartened and lose faith.

He was blessed with two supportive parents, though they couldn’t help him in terms of imparting knowledge they acted as his constant support at all times. From 2014 to 2017 Hirve gave his best at UPSC and ISRO but unfortunately didn’t see much result in the initial years. But finally in the year 2017, out of 16000 candidates who had applied, 9 were selected. Prathamesh Hirve was one among them. This journey of a studious boy from an under privileged area in Mumbai getting selected into one of the esteemed organizations of the country shows us that dreams can indeed come true with perseverance and self belief.

His life has inspired and continues to inspire many young minds of the country!

-Rugmini

Comments

Give them Wings to Fly !

In our country India, where several female Goddesses are revered with a sense of respect and fear, a huge section of the society still continues to be uneducated. A major segment of girls in the rural areas, more than 75% of the total women population in 6 out of 29 states of the subcontinent are denied their basic right to education, mainly in an attempt to hinder their insight to the outer world. Despite various campaigns by Government and Non-Government organizations in the past and present that aimed at social-awareness, the mentality of the rural population of India hasn’t undergone any complete change. The main reason for this injustice remains to be the open resistance by the old minds in the rural areas, to new ideologies, since any ideology which is not parallel to their mind set is seen as an insult and as an attempt to demean their culture. The spiritual books that are worshiped had not expressed any disapproval to girls being educated, but on the contrary has championed the...

The Man who Transformed Girl Education

Ranjitsinh Disale, a Government School Teacher from Paritewadi, Maharashtra, had made history and made India proud. This is not because he won the 1 million USD Global Teacher Prize 2020 which brings incredible honour and glory in itself, but because in a never-before-seen instance, he decided to share half of his Rs 7.4 crore winnings with the rest of the nine finalists for the Global Teacher Prize to support their work. “The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed education and the communities it serves in a multitude of ways. But in this hard time, teachers are giving their best to make sure every student has access to their birth right of a good education," said Disale, as per PTI. Disale aspired to become an IT engineer but it didn’t turn out to be the way he wanted to that’s when his father suggested him teaching as a career. However, his experience in a teacher training college changed him as a person completely. He started off with his incredible work in Zila Parishad Primary Scho...

The Robinhood Army

In 2014, Neel Ghose and a couple of his friends spent an evening distributing excess food that they had collected from local restaurants to the under privileged living under the Hauz Khas flyover in South Delhi. Four years later in 2018, that little act of kindness form Neel and friends laid the foundation of “The Robin Hood Army”, an organization entirely supported by volunteer work that used the act of food redistribution to bring out the simplest in humanity. By the start of 2019, the Robin Hood Army was present in twelve countries, was serving over 500,000 meals per month, and had helped around 750 children enroll in public schools. All of it without raising one rupee, in line with their “golden rule” of being a zero-funds organization. The Robinhood army is now a Harvard Case study: This case explores the challenges and opportunities related to fast growth and international expansion of a start-up organization that operates with no monetary assets. The discussion of this case offe...

The Other India

Search This Blog