Sudharson R thinks his parents will be happy to know that he has scored 1,052 in his Plus-2 examinations. But try as he may, there seems to be no way he can find out. Abandoned by his mother at the age of eight, Sudharson landed at the city Corporation’s shelter for urban homeless, maintained by Don Bosco Trust in Erukkancheri, which houses around 70 inmates.
Caretaker of the shelter Julius says their previous attempts to trace the boy’s parents hit a dead-end. While they were willing to try, Sudharson’s interest in finding their whereabouts was waning, he said. “It’s because I have good friends here instead. Vignesh Kumar and I always study together,” he said.
Vignesh Kumar, who stays in the same shelter, has scored 1014 marks. As a child of seven, Vignesh Kumar J ran away from his aunt’s house 10 years ago, because he was made to work ‘like a slave’, he said. “I used to cut grass in the farm early in the morning, collect cow dung and help in washing clothes before going to school,” he said. While Sudharson scored 195 in accounts and 192 in Commerce and Economics each, Vignesh Kumar scored 190 each in accounts and Commerce and 160 in Business Maths. Out of seven who appeared from Corporation shelters, six cleared it; five are from Don Bosco shelter in Erukkancheri. “Both of us want to become Chartered Accountants,” said Sudarson. “We chose commerce because we were not interested in engineering and although we are smart, we didn’t know if we were smart enough to secure a medical seat,” he added.