Truly Inspiring.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Posted by: " Krishna " Krishna

Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:29 pm (PDT)

 

God has always been planning things for me'

 

July 28, 2008

Shobha Warrier

 

Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer

Science and has joined Google in Bangalore.

 

You may ask, what's so special about this 21-year-old when there are

hundreds of students passing out from various IITs and joining big

companies like Google?

 

Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and

moves around in his powered wheel chair. (In fact, when I could not

locate his lab, he told me over the mobile phone, 'I will come and

pick you up'. And in no time, he was there to guide me)

 

Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says,

" God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am

lucky. "

 

Read why Naresh feels he is lucky.

 

Childhood in a village

I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village

in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari. My father

Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though

they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister

(Sirisha) the importance of studying.

 

Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father

taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask

me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that

time, I didn't know he could not read or write but to make me happy,

he helped me in my studies!

 

Another memory that doesn't go away is the floods in the village and

how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember

plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns.

 

I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time

with my friends. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the

elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I

would run away to the fields!

 

I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on

the teacher's lap!

 

January 11, 1993, the fateful day

On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother

took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family function. From

there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my

grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my

mother took a lift in my father's friend's lorry. As there were many

people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door.

 

It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide

throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods

protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on

my legs.

 

The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but

they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police

constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital.

 

First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The

doctors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the

doctors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my

knees, they asked my father to take me to a district hospital. There,

the doctors scolded my parents a lot for neglecting the wounds and

allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do?

 

In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips.

 

I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also

remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the

hospital for three months.

 

Life without legs

I don't think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs.

Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the

attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of

fruits and biscuits.

 

'I never wallowed in self-pity'

 

July 28, 2008

 

The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious

people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But

I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see

me, especially my friends!

 

All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played;

they carried me everywhere.

 

God's hand

I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for

you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village

to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father

built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied

in that school.

 

If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th.

I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my

studies. I am sure God had other plans for me.

 

My sister, my friend

When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to

Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They

decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two

years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were

in the same class. My sister never complained.

 

She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me,

you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do

not care for their siblings.

 

She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my

friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to

push me around in the school.

 

My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal

kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed

with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.

 

Inspiration

I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod

Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests,

and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior.

 

When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to

prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in

10th scoring 542/600.

 

Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the

fee for me. Pramod Sir's recommendation also helped. The fee was

around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford.

 

Moving to a residential school

Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till

then my life centred around home and school and I had my parents and

sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was

interacting with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new

life.

 

There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the

top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage

us. Though my parents didn't know anything about Gowtham Junior School

or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I

wanted to do. If the results were good, they would praise me to the

skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They

did not want me to feel bad.

 

They are such wonderful supportive parents.

 

Life at IIT- Madras

Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was

4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras

to study Computer Science.

 

Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I

looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras.

 

He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs

before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached

bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here.

 

I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and

personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I

was interacting with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit

along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I

gained a lot.

 

'There are more good people in society than bad ones'

 

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and

all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along

with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a

great experience.

 

Joining Google R & D

I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now.

 

Morgan Stanley selected me first but I preferred Google because I

wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory.

 

I am lucky

Do you know why I say I am lucky?

 

I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after

my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a

train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the

train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on.

 

I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in

3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost

no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I

found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a

problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to

do things faster.

 

One great thing about the hospital is, they don't think their role

ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for

all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that

time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So,

from the day I joined IIT, Madras, my fees were taken care of by them.

So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they

could take care of my sister's Nursing studies.

 

Surprise awaited me at IIT

After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the

Institute without my knowledge.

 

I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and

ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit

early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good.

 

Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General

Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs.

The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel

chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me

and not the institute.

 

My life changed after that. I felt free and independent.

 

That's why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes

care of me at every step.

 

The world is full of good people

I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people

around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good

people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to

feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too.

 

" Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. "