This was one admonition that remained with him for long. “What’s the use of so much studying? You are just a Bheel boy who won’t be becoming a doctor or collector,” the customer at a liquor shop shouted at the boy. He remembered the moment, as also the one when his mother held him tight and announced, “my son will surely become a doctor or a collector one day.”
At that time no one could imagine, one day this ordinary boy will set an example for everyone who surrenders before circumstances and blames destiny for all adversities. With his extraordinary brilliance and hard work, Mr Rajendra Bharud, completed his MBBS in 2006 and in 2012 cracked UPSC with flying colours!
HIS NATIVE PLACE AND FAMILY
Mr. Rajendra Bharud, who was born on January 7 1988, hails from a tribal Bheel community of Samode village of Sakri Taluka, Maharashtra. He is among the three children who were raised by a single mother. His father passed away when he was in his mother’s womb. His family used to live in a hut made of sugarcane straws and the only source of their earning used to be the liquor made by his mother and grandmother by collecting Mahua flowers. In an interview to media, Mr Bharud says, “My family was so poor that we couldn’t get even a single picture of my father before he passed. We were born in poverty. It was etched so deep within every person in the village that no one realized they were poor or illiterate. Everyone was happy with whatever limited resources they had.”
INFANTS USED TO BE TREATED WITH ALCOHOL
Sharing a very strange incident from his childhood he said, “When I was 4-5 months of age, my sudden crying used to irritate customers. To make me silent, liquor drops were put into my mouth due to which I used to sleep. Though it could be so dangerous for an infant, we never had any cough syrup or tablets. Our only medicine was a teaspoon of liquor.”
TRIBAL BOY’S JOURNEY OF LEARNING
Though no one in Mr Bharud’s family was literate, he had a deep interest in study ever since he joined formal education. After being supported by local teachers from the government school he was sent to Zilla Parishad School. “I remember my first day at the school. I got intimidated by a big concrete school building and well-dressed children and started to cry. One of the teachers came close to me and handed over one glass of milk and something to eat. After having that, I felt good because I never had a good meal like that before”, he says. When he was in class 5th his teachers realized his brilliance and suggested that he should go for a better institute for higher education. Then he joined Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya that was 150km away from his village.
There, he developed a keen interest in science and mathematics and got 95% in both subjects in class 10th. In class 12th, he again topped. After that in 2006 he cracked Maharashtra medical entrance exam with 97% marks and secured his seat in prestigious Seth GS Medical College with merit scholarship.
THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
Mr Bharud says that a lot of aspirants worry about their medium of study. He also studied in Marathi medium. Hindi and English both were new to him. After his admission in MBBS, he realized that the whole syllabus was in English language and he could not survive there with his poor English comprehension. But he never gave up and apart from his regular studies he started learning English.
HIS PREPARATION JOURNEY
In 2011,he prepared for UPSC’s CSE and without any coaching he cracked it in his 1st attempt. He had secured rank for an IPS officer but due to a surgery he got posted as IRS in Faridabad. In 2012 he again appeared in the exam and was selected as an IAS.
“When I went back to my home in the village, nobody there had any idea about an IAS or a collector. People were coming and congratulating me for becoming a ‘conductor’,” he laughed.
IAS IS AN AUTHOR AS WELL
Mr. Bharud has written a book named as “Mi Ek SwapnPahil “, in which he’s penned down all his experiences, struggles, his childhood memories and journey of life so far.
He says,”I wanted to become a doctor in my childhood because I wanted to help people with healthcare needs. But as I grew up, I realized there is more need to educate them and provide them better opportunities for good living. So I opted for Civil Services.’’
Mr Bharud’s advice to the youth is that their focus must be on solution rather than problem; and if a person like him with limited resources could achieve so much, then anybody can.
