Author: Snehal Fernandes
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 9, 2004
URL: http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=94737&creation_date=2004-08-09
Introduction: Mill worker's son
wins Rs 60-lakh scholarship to US college
At his one-room home in Dukhande
chawl at Chunabhatti, 23-year-old Vikas Dukhande is doing some last-minute
packing.
After a long academic journey, Vikas-the
neighbourhood's first pharmaceutical engineer-is preparing for another
one.
The first one took him as far as
Bangalore. This time, he's going a little further afield.
In an achievement unheard of in
this neighbourhood, Vikas has won a Rs 60-lakh scholarship to do a doctorate
in pharmaceutical science at Idaho State University in the United States.
''I always wanted Vikas go to America,''
says his mother Neelam (50), with a pride tinged with the bittersweet knowledge
that her son will be away for the next 5 years.
On Swadeshi Mill Road, Vikas is
now a celebrity. ''Everyone knows I have got a scholarship. Some women
thought I got it from the Bal Gopal Mandal,'' he laughs.
The son of a mill worker whose family
was made economic refugees by the death of the city's cotton industry,
Vikas's climb to the academic summit has been a long and difficult one.
''After my father's mill closed
down in 1982 following a strike, there were terrible financial hardships,''
says Vikas.
''But my mother insisted that we
study and make it big.''
His father, Vasudeo (60), had earned
a monthly salary of Rs 800 from his job at New Mills in Kurla, enough to
pay for the school bus that took his children to school.
''After the mill closure, it was
the BEST bus,'' says Dukhande. Vasudeo now works as a ''clothes checker''
at a textile firm in Navi Mumbai.
While his friends were out having
fun, Vikas studied. ''Until three o'clock in the morning,'' says his sister
Bhakti.
''While the rest of us slept in
the room, he studied in the passage, fighting mosquitoes.''
Dressed in a pink T-shirt and grey
trousers, Vikas proudly says, ''I topped my final year of pharmaceutical
engineering from University Department of Chemical Technology, Matunga.''
''And the local guys have barely
managed to clear their Std X exams,'' says his proud mum.
His achievement won him a job through
campus recruitment as a research associate at Hindustan Lever Limited in
Bangalore, where he worked for a year.
''Since I always wanted to do my
doctorate, I saved a part of what I earned and spent it on applications,''
he says. Already focused on what he will do after his doctorate, he's considering
post-doctoral research.
With a mother who has passed Standard
VII and a father who matriculated, the stress in the family had always
been on education.
''If my father had only allowed
me to study further, I would have helped my husband after the mill closure,''
Neelam sighs.
She has arranged for an additional
Rs 1 lakh to cover Vikas' expenses, but she's feeling confident enough
that her son will take care of things.
''Even if we stay in this house
forever, a day will come when I'll take you for a drive in a car, from
this very home,'' Vikas had once told his family.
Now, that day doesn't seem very
far away.
snehalfernandes@expressindia.com
