Atul Kumar, who spent his school vacations helping his father carry pilgrims on mules along the steep Kedarnath route, is now headed to IIT Madras. The young man from a village in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district has cracked the IIT-Joint Admission Test for Master’s (IIT-JAM) 2025.

“I didn’t even know about IITs till Class 12,” Atul told ANI. “But then teachers and friends encouraged me. That’s when I learnt I could do a Master’s from IIT and started preparing.”

PREPPED AFTER RETURNING FROM KEDARNATH

Atul began his preparations last July after returning from Kedarnath where he had worked in June. “There was no network. We lived in tents, so I couldn’t study,” he said.

A friend who had earlier prepared for the JAM exam helped him with notes, and Atul studied consistently for about seven months till the February exam.

His father continues to work as a horse handler and this has been the family’s primary source of income. Atul also helped during holidays.

His elder sister is married and the younger one just finished her education.

WANTS TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE

For Atul, the biggest drive was to break out of limitations. “My only motivation was to move ahead in life,” he said. “I wanted to create something better for myself.”

Now that he’s got into one of the country’s top institutes, the entire village is celebrating. “The response has been overwhelming,” he added. “Even people who never taught me called to congratulate me.”

– Ends