This 28-YO Man Used To Be A Namkeen Factory Worker And Is Now An Indian Army Officer

Achieving one's dreams when all odds are stacked against you is a special feeling, and 28-year-old Balbankta Tiwari from Arrah, Bihar, knows exactly how it feels.

Tiwari graduated from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on Saturday. He was transitioning from being a sepoy in the Indian Army to an officer. His wife, mother and four-month-old daughter watched the ceremony with pride.

Filled with joy as well as tears, his mother Munni Devi said, ¡°He started working by the time he had turned 16 to supplement the family income and toiled for 12 hours in return for just Rs 50 to Rs 100 a day.¡±

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TOI

Tiwari is the son of a farmer and said only ¡°grit and faith¡± had brought him this far.

¡°After Class XII, unable to find any prospects in Arrah, I moved to Rourkela in Odisha. I first worked at a factory that cut iron springs and rods. I then joined a namkeen factory. However, I continued my education and took tuitions. I never left my dream of joining the Army all this while,¡± said Tiwari.

Tiwari had a relative who was a sepoy in the Indian Army and that is where he got his inspiration from.

He said, ¡°I was fascinated by the kind of respect he received at the village."

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Zee

In 2012, Tiwari cracked the entrance exam of the EME centre in Bhopal in his second attempt. He worked as a sepoy there for the next five years and prepared for the exams of Army Cadet College. He cracked it in 2017.

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Naidunia

He added, ¡°I am so happy I will serve the nation as an officer. My father will pick up the newspaper in the morning and will likely tell everyone around that I made our village proud."