Mumbai panipuri seller's son who failed in Class 11, is now an IITian
The report added that Harsh Gupta is the son of a small pani puri stall owner in Kalyan, which is one of the founding cities of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Gupta enrolled at a coaching institute in in Rajasthan's Kota and secured a seat at IIT Roorkee in Uttarakhand. Now he aims to enter the civil services.
The report added that Harsh Gupta scored 98.59 per cent in JEE-Mains and qualified for JEE-Advanced. This is engineering entrance exams for admission to colleges including IITs. But he missed to secure admission to the college of his choice.
Following this, he tried again and earned a seat on his second attempt.
'Don't let failure define you. Never give up. After failing the Class 11 exams, I decided to go to Kota. My family supported me in my decision... I always dreamt of clearing IIT and securing a seat in either IIT Mumbai or Roorkee,' the report quoted him as saying.
Stating that his father always encouraged him to keep studying, Harsh said, "He said, 'couldn't study, but you should pursue your dreams'. My message for other aspirants is that don't let failure define you. I never gave up, even though I failed in Class 12. I am the first IITian in my family, and my school."
Harsh said his classmates teased him and doubted his potential after he failed Class 11.
However, Harsh ignored all these taunts and focused on his studies. "But, I didn't pay much heed. I worked hard,' he said.
Expressing pride, Harsh's father Santosh said, 'I may be a pani puri vendor, but I'll go to any extent to support my children's dreams. I am very happy. He has always been good at studies, but we had financial constraints."
Santosh also arranged funds by withdrawing from his savings. 'I also want my two other sons, Shubham and Shivam, to pursue higher education,' he said.
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