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While growing up, it would have seemed M Aravind was destined to take up his family profession of working for jewelers just like many other children in the area. But due to the perseverance of his father, Aravind’s hard work and with some help, Aravind studied BTech in Apparel Technology in Anna University and is working as a marketing manager at a firm in Coimbatore now.
Aravind’s father Manoharan is a daily wage worker in the jewellery industry in Erode. The family lives in Kavundapadi in that district. Manoharan had to discontinue his studies after Class 9 because of poverty. Aravind’s mother has not stepped into a school. His sister has studied up to Class 12 and is married. Despite his father toiling for 30 years, the family could only afford to live in a house with tiled roofs, says Aravind. But Manoharan was keen that Aravind should have a better future.
Aravind studied at the Kavundapadi government school from Class 1 to 12 in Tamil medium. He obtained 468 out of 500 in Class 10 and came second in school. He scored centum in Math and 98 in Science. He took the Science with Computer Science group in Class 11.
Aravin was clear about his goal. He wanted to study engineering through government quota in a government college. Even this would stretch their family’s finances so private colleges were ruled out. Aravind says he would study every day until late into the night and get up at 5am to study. He passed Class 12 in 2010 scoring 1108 out of 1,200 and came first in school.
Aravind recalls with gratitude the efforts of his teacher, Venkatesan, who lived near his house. He would encourage him, tutor him and answer any questions he may had.
Aravind could not afford to take any private tuition. But he says this wasn’t necessary. Students with a good academic record were given special coaching after school by his school.
Switching from Tamil medium to English was not easy but he did not give up
Aravind recalls with gratitude the efforts of his teacher, Venkatesan, who lived near his house. He would encourage him, tutor him and answer any questions he may had. Venkatesan told the family about Agaram Foundation and that they offer support to poor, deserving students.
Aravind’s cut-off marks were 193.5 in Class 12. While most students preferred Computer Science, Electronics and Communication, Mechanical Engineering and so on, Aravind wanted to study something that would sync with where he came from. Textiles are common in Erode, so he chose to study B Tech Apparel Technology in Guindy Engineering College, Anna University.
Agaram Foundation granted support to his higher studies. In addition, Saveetha University founder who had studied in the same school as Aravind gave him a prize money of Rs 1 lakh for coming first in his school.
Agaram Foundation granted support to his higher studies. In addition, Saveetha University founder who had studied in the same school as Aravind gave him a prize money of Rs 1 lakh for coming first in his school. With all this support, Aravind could complete his engineering education.
Yet, since Aravind studied in Tamil medium, switching to English medium in engineering was a big challenge. For a few months, he couldn’t understand what was being taught. He took English classes with support from Agaram Foundation. It took him nearly a year before he could come to grips with the lessons. Despite that, Aravind passed out of engineering with first class and scored 78% overall and was among the first to get campus placement.
His first job was in Mumbai at Alok Industries where he joined as senior executive. Following his father’s death in 2017, he moved to Coimbatore where he is working at Shiva Texyarn.
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