Kindness of strangers and a mother's hard work fuelled the success of Gujarat's 22-year-old Hasan Safin, who recently cracked the UPSC exams with the all-India rank of 570.
For 22-year-old Hasan Safin, who cracked the Union Public Services Commission exams with an all-India rank of 570, it was his mother’s love and sweat that paved the path to success.
Safin, a native of Kanodar village in Palanpur district, Gujarat, belongs to a low-income family. His parents, Mustufa and Naseembanu, work in a small diamond unit, earning just enough to feed their child, although there were days when Safin went to sleep on an empty stomach.
When Safin needed extra money for his education, his mother Naseembanu began rolling out hundreds of rotis for local restaurants and marriage halls, reports the Times of India.
In the summer, temperatures in the region can shoot up to 45 degrees Celsius. However, Naseembanu would wake up at 3:00 a.m. every day and make anywhere from 20 to 200 kilos of medium-sized rotis (A kilo amounts to approximately 40-43 rotis), earning Rs 5,000-8,000 a month. All that money went into her son’s education.
“I have seen her soaked in sweat even in cool mornings as I studied in the kitchen,” an emotional Safin told the Times of India. Besides all the hard work his parents put into his education, Safin also received timely assistance from strangers including local businessman Hussain Polra and his wife, Raina Polra. Spending Rs 3.5 lakh from their own pocket, the Polra family funded Safin’s two-year stay in the national capital, including the fees of a coaching institute, his travel and lodgings.
Safin’s school principal too had the generosity to waive Rs 80,000 in school fees when he was in high school, stating that Safin was a “very bright” student.
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“People have held my hand and opened doors for me to fulfil my dreams. I would have never become what I have if not for the kindness of society at large,” says Safin.
For Safin, who also teaches poor children in Kanodar village during his spare time, the ultimate dream is to start a state-of-the-art residential school.
“Safin has told us that from his earnings, he wishes to open a state-of-art residential school for poor children. He wants to pay back society,” his mother Naseembanu told the Times of India.
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Incidentally, Safin’s dream of becoming a civil servant was inspired by a collector’s visit to his village when he was a child.
“Escorted by armed bodyguards, the collector addressed the entire village, assuring them that their problems would be resolved,” says Safin. “I asked an elder how one can become a collector and was told anybody could become one—all that it required was hard work to crack an entrance test. From that moment, I found the mission of my life.”
For the time being, however, Safin wants to improve his ranking, even though he is eligible for entry into the Indian Police Service (IPS). He will write the exam again to fulfil his long-held childhood dream of becoming an IAS officer, according to the Times of India.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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