An inspirational story of positivity and perseverance

Dasari Rajasekhar – 28th Batch –8722190928

Kobe Bryant, one of the Basketball geniuses, thinks that ‘Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for one to rise’

This success story is of one of our very own such achievers -Dasari Rajasekhar!  Less than 5 years ago, in a small village near Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, there lived this farmer’s family – parents and three children. Two of them were girls, and the boy was Rajasekhar. Rajasekhar’s father was a goatherd and his mother and sisters would work in the fields and take on any odd-jobs they got, with the sole goal of making ends meet!His sister had to quit education in class VII due to the financial crisis. The family’s annual income was a meager Rs. 20000/-.

Rajasekhar had the spark for education. He stood first in his class in intermediate, with an aggregate of 80%. Owing to his family situation, he self-funded his school fees, by doing odd jobs himself. His high marks in intermediate fetched Rajasekhar a free seat in the Anantapur Govt Arts College. He studied for an undergraduate degree in commerce. Again, his family could not afford the annual fees of Rs. 4500/-. He found himself a part-time job that gave him Rs 500 every month and this would take care of his accommodation, food and tuition fees. His teachers also helped him with some special coaching.

In his final year of undergraduation, Rajasekhar spoke to a distant cousin of his about job prospects in Bangalore. It is that cousin who introduced him to Unnati. He took Rajasekhar to the Unnati centre and asked him to attend the interview. Rajasekhar told me that he had prepared so much for that initial discussion, since he was desperate to find a job.

At Unnati, Rajasekhar took BPO as his specialized field of study. He enjoyed everyday at Unnati, and the lesson-for-life that he has learnt is ‘How to effectively change my life from negative to positive’. From my interaction with him, he has taken this lesson very sincerely, and the lesson has given him tremendous success in life. He also thinks he has learnt a lot of good lessons on effective communication.

Rajasekhar’s first success came when he got his degree certificate while he was still studying the course at Unnati. After completing the course at Unnati, he was placed at Nuware Systems Pvt. Ltd., where he is currently working in Finance-BPO processing. He processes credit Card Bill entries for NuWare’s US based Clients. He started with a monthly Salary of Rs 7000 and in just over a year he is currently drawing over Rs 14,000 per month. His employer, Mr. Subbu Krishnan, is very happy about Rajasekhar’s performance and has given him a 100% increase. Rajasekhar mentions that his employer has also given him free accommodation.

Unnati has shaped up another family – Rajasekhar says his happiest moment was when he went back home and paid up for his sister’s tenth standard education. Rajasekhar has made two commitments. One, that he (along with a few other students from Unnati who work at the same organization) will always be there for Unnati and help in whatever way he can, and two, he will ensure he will lead 100 students like him to Unnati. In his own words, “I have already sent 3 students. I ONLY have 97 more to send”!!

Unnati is extremely proud of Rajasekhar and wishes him all success. We are also very honored to have employers such as Rajasekhar’s boss who form the rungs to the career ladder of hundreds of aspiring students!

Team Unnati Contribution by Sukanya Kuppuswamy ( volunteer )