Nerul: Shraman More, who scored 91.40 per cent in the Maharashtra SSC board exams, is a testament to hard work, grit and perseverance. The adversities at home – father is physically challenged due to polio and the house runs on the income of his mother who works as a class-IV employee in a city-based hospital – failed to deter the 15-year-old.

Shraman has all along excelled in studies and has even won government scholarship. Believing in self-study, Shraman devoted 8-10 hours daily. He gave the credit for his success to his teachers at the NR Bhagat school in Nerul. They always had been there to support him in solving the problems of all subjects, particularly math, science I and science II.

Shraman says his favourite subjects are physics and chemistry. The 15-year-old aims to take up PCM (physics, chemistry and math) in Xi standard and hopes to sit for the JEE and CET competitive exams. “My goal is to pursue aeronautical engineering.”

An avid fan of Indian cricketers, he plays cricket and chess during his leisure.

Like Shraman, his school-mate Kartik Gupta has also triumphed hardships to secure 91.40 per cent in the SSC exam.

The son of a vegetable vendor, Kartik has always priortised studies and secured good marks all along. Kartik gives credit to his subject teachers and principal Bhuvaneswari Rajshekhar for helping him.

Kartik invested 8-10 hours daily to prepare for his examination. The Nerul resident also relied on tutorials and study material available on YouTube.

With aspirations to be a cardiologist, Kartik plans to opt for PCB (physics chemistry and biology). “I want to get study in AIIMS Delhi and for that I have already started my preparations.”

Having come up the hard way, Kartik has made plans to give it back to the society once he completes his studies. He wants to extend health facilities for the needy and poor in future.