One could have seen a boy knocking at the door during the Covid pandemic to deliver a pizza or a burger with earphones plugged in.
But unlike popular perception and most others his age, this boy wasn’t listening to music but attending engineering classes online.
There was no money at home and the boy would set out from his one-room home in Topsia every day for months to bring back some money for a family of seven.
Rohid Hossain is now 24 and has a degree in electrical engineering. He worked with a software company for a few months in 2022 and is currently in the merchant navy, making $750 (about Rs 62,000) a month.
Hossain does not mind talking about his past.
His family’s financial struggles did not start in the pandemic but they only became worse during the period.
“My father died when I was still in school. My elder brother took upon himself the responsibility of running the house. He used to play football for the clubs... but during the pandemic he, too, had no work,” said Hossain.
“What was available to me was the job of a delivery agent for a food delivery partner and I took it. During the day I had my engineering classes and I would attend the classes while riding the cycle,” he said.
Juggling work and studies was not new to him. He had done so during his school years, too, when he was a student at Future Hope.
He ran errands at home, helped with household chores and still managed to do his teachers and family proud with his report card.
“My brother and mother are not educated but they never asked me to quit studies. During my school years when we spent months on only one meal a day, they never expected me to leave studies and start earning. It is a huge thing in a home like ours,” he said.
“So I kept studying. Since we lived in a one-room house there was barely any space and I would stay late in school and study. Later, my school moved me to a hostel.”
Hossain said he owes his success to Future Hope, which made him what he is today.
“Future Hope picked me up from where I was and made me the man my parents wanted me to become,” he told The Telegraph.
The school helped him complete Class XII and funded his engineering studies at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, from where he graduated in 2022.
“We are not just a school but we are a home for our children. We look into their nutrition, health, and cocurricular activities, give them exposure and make them ready for the world. Students like Rohid are our role models who inspire other children,” said Sujata Sen, chief executive officer, Future Hope.
Sen said that all their children come from struggling families and the school reaches out to the most vulnerable in the society.
“For all our children, there are challenges at home, in neighbourhoods, and it is not a smooth ride but the work is half done with the support of the parents,” said Sen.
After completing engineering, Hossain got a job in a software firm but his eyes were set on the ship.
“I want to go around the world. So far, I have travelled to Bahrain, UAE, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” he said. He joined the merchant navy in February this year.
“Every day is a challenge and I enjoy my job of working with electrical circuits and to see that every electric machine is functioning properly on the ship,” he said.
When in Kolkata, Hossain still lives in the same neighbourhood in Topsia with his family.
The only difference is that he has taken one more room with better facilities adjacent to his old house.
“I am idolised by the young girls and boys in the neighbourhood. They want to become like me. That is an honour for me. I tell them that there would be times when one would feel let down but one should have the focus, determination and belief in oneself,” he said.