Umesh Anil Kumar Patil is an overnight celebrity in his village of Nideban in Bhalki taluk. Everybody is talking about the 15-year-old boy that stood tenth in the State in the SSLC examinations by scoring 614 out of 625 marks.
However, he does not act like it. He smiles through the interview and keeps talking about cricket, Kannada literature and some of his friends who have not done as well as they wanted to. “I don’t think they should not worry too much about it,” he says. He wants to become a doctor and take up research in vaccines, but adds that he might change his mind.
Umesh studied in the government Kannada-medium school in his village and later joined the Sri Channabasaveshwar Gurukul in Kardyal. He continued in Kannada medium and emerged the district topper. He has scored 125 out of 125 in Kannada, 100 in Mathematics, and 99 in Hindi
His father Anil Kumar, a small farmer, considers himself lucky. “My two sons and a daughter are all bright. They will not burden me in anyway, I am sure,” he said.
Another village lad to do well is Mohammad Sohail from Ainapur in Bidar taluk. The student of Wisdom school scored 613 out of 625 and emerged the district topper among English-medium schools. He wants to join one of the IITs. His father Abdul Gani Dargah teaches Hindi in a government school.
