A samosa seller by day, a medical aspirant by night, and now, a beacon of hope for millions – this is the story of Sunny Kumar, 18, who has scored a whopping 664 marks out of 720 in the medical entrance exam NEET UG.
After attending school in the morning and getting free by 2 pm, Sunny would take an hour to set up his roadside samosa stall in Noida Sector 12, where he would spend another five hours of the day working tirelessly. After a full day of hard work, he would return home only to continue his studies late into the night. This is what took Sunny to achieve his extraordinary feat.
When NDTV went to meet Sunny, he was in the middle of setting up his stall. “I haven’t been admitted to a college yet, but I want to get into a good college in future,” he told NDTV.
Sunny’s achievement came to light after Alakh Pandey, founder of Physics Wallah, visited and shared several videos of him. In one of the videos, Mr Pandey visits Sunny’s rented room, where he stays with his family, and is shocked to see several study notes stuck on his wall.
Sunny prepared for the examination through online classes and cracked it on his first try.
In another video, Sunny tells Mr Pandey that he has to sell samosas since there is no support from his father, however, his mother has always supported his dream.
Mr Pandey has also extended financial help to Sunny and his family and has promised to support his education through college.
While grateful for all the support he is getting, Sunny said that he doesn’t want to go viral. “I worked hard, but I don’t want to go viral like this. I want people to know me after I have achieved something great,” said Sunny.
Sunny’s mother also shared that she has never felt as happy as she does now. “I am truly happy and only wish for my son to be admitted to a good college and achieve great success,” she told NDTV.
With inputs from Prerna Sharma.