Dream – Dare – Determination: The Story of Sanatan Bindhani

The whole world steps aside for the man, who knows where he is going

This is the story of a man who has proved beyond doubt that life is about risking everything for a dream – a dream that no one can see but yourself. Meet Sanatan Bhindani who risked everything for his dream, dared thinking he could fulfill it, and was determined to succeed. Sanatan is a Junior GIS/CAD engineer with AABSyS IT, and an inspiration to many around him. His journey can be summarized as ‘Zero to Hero’ without being gaudy, since he came out of the mud his family has long been into, to eventually become a bright lotus in the pond.

We know, India has large socio-economic gap between people. Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, while others must struggle for their daily bread. The man of this inspirational story, is the one who has struggled to make his life better. From social discrimination to poverty and hopelessness, the odds against him were quite high. Sanatan Bindhani, the youngest son of a farmer of Mayurbhaj district, Odisha, belongs to a family where the prime source of income is generated working as a daily laborer or a blacksmith. However, Sanatan dared to think out of box. He identified his own caliber and made his aim to change his family’s name and fame to give a better life to his parents. The uniqueness in this story is the struggle of a boy who had fought and is still fighting for his education, and who moved away from leading the same life his ancestors had lived. He firmly believes in the power of Dream, Dare and Determination – The 3 Ds.

A Flashback

Life was never easy for him. Sanatan, like every kid in the block, went to his village school. But, unlike other kids, who would return home to enjoy a meal and sound sleep, Sanatan had to work with his father to give financial support. At a tender age of 10, he supplied milk packets door to door for Rs. 600 a month, and started digging wells for Rs 80 per day, when he grew up a little more. Later, he started working in a factory in Rourkela as a hammer man for Rs 90 per day. In between all this, he appeared for class 10th board exams and scored 74%. The result was beyond everyone’s expectation and added much to their happiness.

This life event gave young Sanatan, a push to dream higher and succeed. He immediately applied for higher studies in ITI in 2007, even if it meant spending extra hours as a day laborer to support his studies. The admission cost was Rs. 5,500 – a big amount for this family and a bigger problem for Sanatan. He tried his best, but couldn’t arrange the amount. But this didn’t shake his faith and determination. He started giving tuitions, while also working as day laborer for Rs.110, to earn as much as possible and save. The next year, Sanatan tried again for ITI admissions, but the money he saved was still not enough for the fees. His dreams of achieving higher education was almost. shattering,

It has been rightly said – ‘God helps those, who helps themselves’. It was true for Sanatan. He was lucky to have full support of his village. Representatives of the village approached their local MLA, who is now a well-known Lok Sabha MP. The spark of success in Sanatan couldn’t escape the MLA’s eyes, and he couldn’t say no to young, meritorious talent. He financially helped Sanatan to get admission in ITI in Filter trade. With all his efforts, Sanatan completed the course with flying colors and got placed in Tata Motors – which is another milestone in his life. There he worked as contractual employee, and fell prey to the false promise of permanent employment with the company.

But nothing can push back a man of determination. Sanatan knew that sky has no limits, neither do education has. Adding up to his education, he planned for a Diploma Engineering program. Money was again a big obstacle for him. But fighting the odds and overcoming the obstacles is one of his talents, Sanatan again pulled up his socks and started working hard to save money for his diploma. He started working as a porter for Rs. 220 per day and started giving tuitions, in between. Later, he tried working as a driver and then a gardener in a Diploma college in Mayurbhanj.

While working in the college, his desire to get education there, kept on increasing and he enquired about the admission. His hunger for knowledge came to the notice of the college staff, and they were surprised that this gardener boy had a meritorious past. The college authorities guided him to clear a written examination of the college to avail TFW scholarship, through which his college fees could be reduced to 6500 per year. Happy and excited, Sanatan started preparing for the exams and had started attending free coaching classes, without affecting his gardening job. He appeared for the scholarship exam, but unfortunately couldn’t score enough to qualify for the scholarship. He almost believed that Diploma is might be too high an aspiration for him.

God always favored him when the circumstances didn’t. One of his relatives, who was a carpenter by profession, came forward to financially support him in higher studies, because he was proud of Sanatan for daring to aspire high. He gave all his saving to make Sanatan’s dream come true. Sanatan also, never let anyone’s expectations go down. He studied hard, while continuing his gardening job continued. As time flew, Sanatan’s knowledge had increased and the final term of his diploma course had arrived. As a college legacy, Student of the Year Award must be chosen keeping in mind academics and extra-curricular activities. This gardener of the college who was also a student there, was unanimously chosen as the student of the year. His prize money of Rs 6000 helped him to go for technical certification and courses. Gaining knowledge and applying it in the right way was always his passion. After completing Diploma Engineering and his AutoCAD training he had joined AABSyS IT and has been working as an AutoCAD engineer for more than a year now.

Life today

This village boy – who had worked as a day laborer, driver, hammer man, gardener, turned out to be a bright student and is today an efficient and hardworking AutoCAD engineer. He continues to inspire people around him. Sanatan is an aspirer, dreamer and self-motivator. At AABSyS IT, he was nominated to the Hall of Fame, as a star performer for 4 times in a row.

While contacted for sharing his story for this blog, Sanatan said – “Life has not changed much; I still struggle between my job here and B. Tech studies which I am pursuing through correspondence. Water continues to leak from the thatched roof of my house in the village and I still have financial insufficiency. But I am determined to make it all right one day. I am already half way through and I will cover the rest of the journey too- soon very soon!” Sanatan is happy to be here in AABSyS.

AABSyS is proud to have such an inspirational person on board, and we salute his hard work, dedication, determination and the positive approach towards life.