For 25-year-old Karmu Majhi, the distance from Rayagada to Ahmedabad was unimaginably long. On Wednesday, when he set out for the prestigious National Institute of Design (NID) at Ahmedabad, he would have felt it as the beginning of the journey of his lifetime.
For someone, who hailed from the forested and hilly Uparjhiri village of tribal-dominated Rayagada district’s Kashipur block replete with stories of hunger and cholera outbreaks, pursuing a Degree course in Graphic Designs at the NID was a fairytale that came true.
Thanks to the generous support from Odisha Government, Karmu boarded the train to the Gujarat capital on Wednesday to take admission in the two and a half-year course. Till last Monday though, he would have doubted he could make it. He approached Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell seeking financial support for pursuing the course for which he had toiled day and night.
It had all started with his childhood passion for drawing and painting. He drew his way to top and bagged numerous prizes in his district but his financial background was feeble. He slogged hard and with support from his father, a BPL card holder farmer who had to raise five other children, Karmu had got admitted to BK College of Art, a government college where he studied Visual Art and supported himself by making wooden partitions as a part-time job. But dreaming of an NID degree that cost more than Rs two lakh towards course fee was a crime but dream he did.
He appeared for the entrance test and cleared it. He went on to qualify the studio test and personal interview. There were just 15 seats up for grabs and Karmu had one to his name. But it was that Rs two lakh that mattered.
When he approached the CM’s Grievance Cell last Monday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed SC and ST Development Department to contact NID and assure State Government’s willingness to pay Karmu’s course fee which will be transferred electronically.
With NID beckoning, Karmu left for Ahmedabad by train on but not before meeting Naveen at his residence to express his gratitude.