Ludhiana: In an inspiring story, a youth from Punjab's Ludhiana has qualified for the prestigious National Eligibility Test (NET) by selling golgappas. Young Shivalig has become an inspiration for the youth, who make excuses to achieve anything big. For the past several years, young Shivalig has been raising the cost of his education by selling golgappas.
Through this earning, Shivalig did his master's in Economics and then cleared the UGC NET exam. He is looking forward to getting a job as a professor after writing the state eligibility test. But Shivalig said that he will never leave his first job selling golgappas. "I will become a professor, but I will not quit this job," Shivalig said adding after becoming a professor, if he has free time in the evening, he would definitely engage in the part-time job, his first source of income.
Shivalig said that his father had left work when he was a child and triggering financial constraints in the family and forcing Shivalig into child labour. Shivalig started selling golgappas when he was studying at first standard. But he did not let the work suffer his studies and continued to pass the exams. He said that he would first wake up in the morning to study and then go to school and sell the snacks in the evening.
Shivalig said that his life had many ups and downs. When he was going to college, his friends used to come on motorcycles, but he used to go to college on a bicycle. But, he was never ashamed. He said that some of his friends were supportive of his work, but many also made fun of him. But it did not deter me from doing the job.
“Many people used to scold me, but I never considered my work to be small,” he said. He said that his mother has suffered a lot for him. “I will fulfil all her dreams,” he added. The principal of Shivalig's school, Ludhiana Javadi Government School Kiran Gupta expressed his happiness about Shivalig's achievement. Gupta remembers Shivalig as a hardworking and bright student right from the beginning. He said that Shivalig is an inspiration for those students, who work while continuing their studies.
