Madan P could not bear to see his father, a farmer, being upset at having lost a land dispute case at their village some years ago. Taking it as a challenge, he has managed to secure a seat at the prestigious Hidayatullah National Law University in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.
‘I used to milk cows’
Madan’s is a story of grit and determination despite being born in a poor family. Madan, who was born in Guddemaranahalli, near Solur, around 50 km from Bangalore, recalls that while most of his friends played in the evenings, “I did the household chores and milked the cow”. On some days, he would help his father, Prakash, in tilling land and growing ragi. “Ragi is our staple food. We would get about six bags of ragi in three months. We would keep three bags for ourselves and sell the rest,” he said.
Madan studied in a local government school up to seventh standard. His headmaster, who recognised his talent, asked him to move to Bangalore.
The headmaster was indeed right. Madan, 19, scored 94.4 per cent in SSLC exam, opted for Commerce and secured 96.3 per cent in the II PU exam.
On why he was taking up law, he said: “My father had lost a case in the court. He was very upset and told me he wouldn’t have lost the case if anyone in the family knew law. He also said some lawyers had cheated him. This was when I decided I wouldn’t do anything other than studying law and wanted to get into a reputed law school.”
When Common Law Admission Test results were declared a few days ago, his joy knew no bounds. For, he had secured 470th rank. On Sunday, he learnt he had been selected to study at Raipur. “My dream is to become a lawyer and take up the cause of farmers especially from my native place,” he said.
After Madan completed his II PU, he was selected by the IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) Charitable Trust. Diptasri Basu, executive director of the trust, told Bangalore Mirror they had worked with underprivileged children in the area of legal education with an aim to select meritorious students from under-represented communities in India and provide free training to them for CLAT. “If any of these students make it to the national law schools, we would fund their entire five years of education so they can become advocates and represent their communities,” she added.
