CHENNAI:Akash M, the school topper from Kesavarajakuppam, may have realised the middle-class dream though he is just 15.
The Class XI boy who had tutored his mentally challenged friend Easwaran B, helping him pass the examinations and he notched a total of 480 (out of 500) himself winning laurels, has been felicitated by his school, and now got a free property to his name.
Akash had spent almost 4 hours each day teaching his friend Easwaran throughout his 10th standard at Government school in Kesavarajakuppam, Thiruvallur district while studying late at night for himself.
He would go through the day’s portions and revise them repeatedly for the benefit of his friend who managed to pass with a total of 251.
He supported Easwaran “almost like he were his own brother” in the words of his mother Janaki.
But what he, his younger sibling and mother who live by the kindness of his grandparents didn’t see coming was the decision of the district DRO to recognise his efforts.
After the Express story, the District Revenue Officer K Muthu, after speaking to Akash’s former principal and long-time well wisher EM Logamani, decided to gift the struggling family a patta for a piece of government land.
“I was happy to hear about the boy doing so well. We are hoping to find the family a plot for about 4-5 cents within Thiruvallur to help the family,” Muthu told Express.
“We don’t know when we will be asked to leave my parent’s house. I raise both my children with Rs 4,700 I earn. A place to call our own would be nice,” says Akash’s 40-year-old widowed mother who works at a local government school.