Ronak Rathi’s entry into the IIM hall of fame is a dream walk for him that others can only dream of. A tea-seller’s son from Palanpur in north Gujarat, the 22-year-old is one of the few from the state to make it to IIM this year. His mother stitches clothes to make ends meet, while his father sells tea at a nondescript stall.
Rathi’s next target is to ace the MBA programme at IIM Ranchi, where he has got admission and get a good placement to pull his family out of poverty and improve their lives.
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Ronak studied in Gujarati medium till Class 12 in Palanpur and later pursued BTech in electrical engineering from Adani Institute of Infrastructure Engineering. He started preparing for CAT in the last year of the course and scored 97.68 percentile in the exam.
His father Girish Rathi, 55, said though he had not studied much, he and his wife were committed to ensuring their children studied well and scripted better lives for them. He works 12 hours a day and earns hardly Rs 15,000 a month for the family of five that also includes two siblings of Ronak.
Ronak’s two elder sisters have visual impairments and are preparing for teaching and UPSC exams. Ronak also credits his success to Satish Kumar, an IIM Calcutta alumnus and CAT mentor with a preparatory institute, who also helped him with a scholarship for studies.
The institute officials said that Ronak’s is a case that can inspire many from small towns to dream big.
“I want to retire my parents from their work so that they can pursue their interests. I also want to support my sisters in achieving their dreams,” said the youngster.
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