5. Achievers from diverse backgrounds

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born in a Tamil Muslim family in Rameswaram. Kalam's family had become poor at his early age; he sold newspapers to supplement his family income.

 

  

Kalam completed his schooling at Ramnad, graduated from St. Joseph's College, Trichy, and went on to study Aerospace Engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). After that, he joined the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).

 

Viswanathan Anand was born in Chennai in a middle-class family. His mother was a big fan of chess and taught him to play the game when he was just five years old. She cheered and motivated him a lot, which laid the foundation for his future career as a chess player.

 

  

 

 

S.Ilavazhagi came from a poor family at Vyasarpadi, Chennai. Her father is a daily wage-earning auto-rickshaw driver.

 

 

 

Mariyappan was born at Salem in Tamil Nadu. His mother raised her children as a single mother, carrying bricks as a labourer until becoming a vegetable seller, earning about Rs.100 per day. He suffered a permanent disability in his right leg when he was young. Despite this setback, he completed secondary schooling.

 

  

 
In 2016, At the Rio Paralympics, he won the gold medal in the men’s high jump T-42 event, with a leap of 1.89 m.

 

From the above examples, you will clearly understand that people from different backgrounds facing struggling conditions were still able to achieve greater success in their lives.