A boy from a slum of Calcutta, who had quit his studies because his family could barely make ends meet, cleared his higher secondary exam on the second attempt and after years of hardship, now has a job with a salary of Rs 32,000.
Dilip Mondal, 26, shifted to Hyderabad in October to work as a texturing artist in an animation studio.
His road so far has not been easy.
Mondal worked as a labourer in his hometown to sustain himself and his family at a time when his educational qualification alone could not fetch him a job.
He had a job as an animator from October 2019 to March 2020. Then the pandemic struck and the organisation could not afford to pay him.
Despite not drawing a salary, the young boy in the peak of the pandemic would visit the Salt Lake office to sit down and work at the computer, lest he forget the animation work that had got him the job.
“I could not afford to forget the work that I had learnt, so I would go to the office to practice. But the company could not pay me Rs 12,000 that it used to earlier,” said Mondal.
The practice would not help him make ends meet.
“I started with the transport work which included loading and unloading of goods in Belgachia, Topsia and Burrabazar. I would get anything between Rs 200 and Rs 500 a day,” he said.
Working as a labourer Mondal had to endure taunts and ridicule on the field.
“There were people who would tell me why I came back to load and unload goods when I had already gone to office work. I had no answer to them and I kept quiet,” he said.
“I felt bad but given the circumstances, I had to do it. Else who would give me money,” he said.
Mondal was used to a life of struggle.
He was a student of the NGO Calcutta Rescue and gave up his studies after he could not clear higher secondary. That was in 2016.
When Ananya Chatterjee, now the school administrator at Calcutta Rescue, was preparing the list of examinees for the next year, she called Mondal and counselled him.
He was not ready initially but finally, he came around and managed to clear the exams.
Mondal himself then requested the NGO if he could do an animation course and managed to clear the interview for a 14-months course in animation.
“It was an expensive course. It was then that our governing council vice-chairman, Wing Commander Shomir Choudhuri, came forward and sponsored the course money. Mondal is our first student who is drawing this kind of salary,” said Chatterjee.
For Mondal, it is payback time to his alma mater.
“It is because of my teachers there that I have reached this place. Taking care of my parents is my responsibility and it is equally important for me to do whatever is possible for Calcutta Rescue,” he said.