Younger Brother Carries Polio-Stricken Older Brother on Shoulders to School. Both Make it to IIT!

From the tiny village of Paroria in Bihar’s Samastipur district, comes this incredible story of the bond between two brothers who together fought extreme poverty and disability to crack the IITJEE (Advanced) exam this year.

Krishna (now 19) was crippled with polio when he was just one year old. He could not move around or go to school because his family was so poor they could not even afford braces or crutches for him.

When Krishna’s brother Basant, born a year later, grew up and became of school-going age, he decided to carry his brother on his back to school everyday.

Pic credit: pagalguy.com

The bond between the brothers grew stronger still after they finished Class 8 and started attending a senior secondary school 10 km away from the village. Their father bought a bicycle and Basant would take Krishna to school on it.

Both children were doing well in their studies and decided they wanted to try taking the IIT entrance exam. They persuaded their father to send them to Kota, 1400 km away, for coaching classes. But within two years, their father ran out of money for their stay in Kota. The brothers returned home crushed. However, thanks to the generosity of their older brothers working in a garage in Mumbai, who encouraged them to go back and study, Krishna and Basant were able to resume their coaching.

At Kota as well, Basant would carry Krishna to the coaching classes on his shoulders. “When I left the village for coaching three years ago, people in the village suspected my abilities and whether we would be able to continue like this,” Krishna said to the Indian Express, adding “we were determined to become engineers.”

Today, Krishna has secured the 38th All India Rank in OBC disabled category, and Basant has got the 3675 rank in OBC category.

Pic credit: pagalguy.com

The brothers now hope that they will be able to join the same IIT as it will be very difficult for Krishna to manage on his own.

“Basant does everything for me. He takes me on his shoulders from home or hostel room to classes, serves me food…I feel very sad when I think about living without him in the engineering college,” he says.

It is our sincere hope the IIT authorities will be able to place these two siblings in the same institute so they can work together towards achieving their dreams.

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