Palanpur tea seller's son gets into IIM Ranchi

AHMEDABAD: Ronak Rathi, 22, a native of Palanpur in north Gujarat, might be one of the handful from Gujarat making it to IIMs this year, but his is a journey like no other.

Rathi comes from a family where his father runs a tea stall and his mother stitches clothes to make ends meet. Thus, Rathi, who has got admitted to IIM Ranchi, has his priorities straight - he wants to excel in the MBA course and get a good placement to pull his family out of poverty and elevate their living conditions.

Rathi told TOI that he studied in Gujarati medium till Class 12 in Palanpur and later pursued BTech in electrical engineering from Adani Institute of Infrastructure Engineering. "Till my engineering years, I had no idea or inclination for an MBA course. But I knew that it would benefit me to realise my potential and thus I started preparing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) in the last year of the course. I also visited IIM Ahmedabad during my college years," he said, adding that he got a scholarship for both engineering and MBA preparatory courses. He has scored 97.68 percentile in CAT.

Ronak's father, Girish Rathi, 55, is beyond happy for the academic success brewed by his son. He said that though he has not studied much, he and his wife were committed to ensuring their children study well and script better lives for them. "I don't understand much about his studies, but I know he's doing well. When we visited the campus with him, I told him whether he'll be able to adjust. I have not allowed him to visit my tea stall in the past 15 years - the time since I have started on my own. We always dreamt for our three kids that they don't follow our footsteps and do well in their lives," the father said, adding that he generally works 12 hours a day and earns about 15,000 a month.

Ronak's sisters are visually impaired
Ronak's two elder sisters have visual impairments and are preparing for teaching and UPSC exams. Ronak also credits his success to Satish Kumar, an IIM Calcutta alumnus and CAT mentor with a preparatory institute, who also helped him with a scholarship for studies.

"As an IIMite himself, his guidance went beyond education and included personal insights and strategies to succeed," he said. The institute officials said that Ronak's is a case that can inspire many from small towns to dream big.

"My priorities are straight - I want to give my best shot to the course and placements and support my family in every way possible. I want to retire my parents from their work so that they can pursue their interests. I also want to support my sisters in achieving their dreams," said Rathi.


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