pune four years ago he used to stitch buttons on to clothes tailored by his father and iron them in a 100squarefoot tenement in the ghorpade peth slum today the same fingers are busy tapping on a computer keyboard designing software in a swank office in the information technology park in hinjewadi here it is sheer grit determination and hard work that enabled gangadhar botla to attend night school help his father tailor clothes do a parttime job to support a family of six study under street lights near the ghorpade peth crematorium and secure a place in both the ssc and hsc merit list in 2001 and 2003 however his most cherished dream of becoming a computer professional seemed impossible as the annual fees for the course was rs 28000 much beyond his means but it was a story on gangadhars talent and his battle against poverty published in the times of india june 6 2003 that opened a door of opportunity for him touched by his struggle nitin rai chief executive officer of us firm first insight software solutions pvt ltd decided to sponsor gangadhars education at symbiosis centre for information technology here aware that he had to do a parttime job to support his family rai also took him on as a trainee in his hinjewadi office last week gangadhar passed the bachelor of computer application bca course with 78 per cent marks i feel immensely proud of gangadhar he has not only excelled in academics but has proved to be a smart and loyal worker remarked rai gangadhar has been absorbed as a junior software engineer at first insight one look at gangadhars beaming face says it all aaibaba pan khush aahet my parents are also happy he said father nandu continues to be a smalltime tailor while mother vijaya still makes bidis in a factory he intends to work for a couple of years then complete a masters degree said rai gangadhar has been assigned work on critical software development projects with a lot of responsibility he is a fast learner and completes challenging projects with minimum supervision i wonder how many gangadhars would there be in pune who need a little help what really made rai go out of his way to help gangadhar my father had to suffer similar hardships when he came to delhi from pakistan after partition revealed rai who still gets emotional while recounting his fathers struggles gangadhar struck a cord in me i wish to do it help a deserving student again he concluded