D Ranjith is no stranger to success. Success has been following him around ever since his mother Amruthavalli taught him lip reading to help him tide over his hearing and speech disabilities. He topped the state of Tamil Nadu in the hearing-impaired category in Class 12 exams, scored 80 per cent in his college, and now he has courted success yet again in UPSC.
REJECTION DID NOT STOP HIM
It is his strong willpower and fortitude that kept him going even as companies turned him down during placements. Rather than giving up, he became more focused on achieving big and kept on aiming for the stars. The rejections fuelled his desire to prove his detractors wrong and so he decided to appear for UPSC.
While talking to the media, he said, “I had all the qualities to work in a company, yet I was rejected. That is when I started studying for UPSC.” With this aim in view, he went to Chennai for coaching, appeared for the exam, and bagged the 750th rank. His family is positive that he would get the Indian Revenue Service with this rank. Once he takes charge as an officer, Ranjith wishes to help the disabled community.
HIS MENTORS ALWAYS BELIEVED IN HIM
His mother Amruthavalli, a school headmistress, who taught him lip reading early on in life, said, “He worked hard using technology to crack the exam.” Ranjith is a mechanical engineering graduate from PSG Tech.
His mother did her B.Ed in special education and this helped her to teach her son lip reading skills which helped him to learn faster. “We were worried about his future. But today all our worries are gone, and we are happy and proud,” she said.
K. Sabarinathan, one of the teachers who coached him on current affairs, remembers him as the boy who “would sit in the front row and read our lips while attending classes.”
IN LIMELIGHT NOW
Ever since the news of D. Ranjith’s success in UPSC broke out, congratulations and praises have been pouring in from everywhere. Everyone had a special word of praise for this special boy from Tamil Nadu, who conquered all obstacles on the road to success by his intense desire to do something special.
THIRTY SIX FROM TN
V.S. Narayana Sarma from Coimbatore got the all India 33rd rank and emerged Tamil Nadu topper. This year, 36 students from Tamil Nadu have cracked the exam. Last year, 45 TN candidates were successful.
