Amazing Success Story of Srikanth Bolla

Discover the amazing success story of Srikanth Bolla. He was born in Seetharamapuram village of Machilipatnam, a city in Andhra Pradesh. He was born poor. His family earned their living through farming. When he was born, a tragedy occurred in that Family because he was born blind.

And you know what that means in a society like ours. Neighbors in the village advised his mother and father to let him die. Some said it was better than the pain they would have to endure their lifetime. He is a “useless” baby without eyes… being born blind is a sin, others added.

His parents may be poor financially, but they are rich in heart. They did not heed any of the ‘advice’ they received and raised him with love and affection. He was growing big. His parents joined him in school. He had to make his way to school mostly on foot. He did this for two years. No one acknowledged his presence in the school, he was pushed to the backbench and not allowed to play. Srikanth was put on the last bench. He could not participate in the PT class. He felt sad. It was not because of a lack of money but because of loneliness.

When he was growing up, his father, a farmer, would take him to the fields but the little boy couldn’t be of any help. His father then decided that he might study well. When his father realized the child was not learning anything, he admitted Srikanth to a special needs school in Hyderabad. His parents focused on his education and through their support, he began breaking down every barrier put in his path.

He cleared the Andhra Pradesh class X state board exams with over 90 percent marks. But the board said he could only take Arts subjects after that. But none of this mattered much because Srikanth was denied admission to the science stream in class XI because of his disability.

Having been denied the opportunity, He decided to fight for it. He sued the government and fought for six months. In the end, He got a government order that said I could take the science subjects but at his ‘own risk’. He worked day and night to complete the course and managed to secure 98 percent in the XII board exams.

And next, he applied for IIT and other top engineering colleges but did not get any hall ticket in India for him. He did his homework searching the Internet to find the best engineering program for someone like himself. He applied to schools in the US and got into the top four. But he went on to become the first international blind student to be admitted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

Towards the end of his bachelor’s course when the ‘what next’ question came up, it brought him back to where he had started.

He decided to give up the ‘golden’ opportunity in corporate America and came back to India to make development here.

Srikanth Bolla founded Bollant Industries in Hyderabad and became CEO. Now in that industry, annual turnover is more than 80 crore rupees. His company has more than 20 branches. He did not become a burden to anyone but he helped about 3000 students in acquiring free education and provided employment to several hundred people with disabilities through his company.

We all complain that the world is not fair, we are not getting what we want, no one is supporting us, I don’t have opportunities, my college is not good, my teaching staff is not good,…. only reasons. “when you have strong determination, you can see only opportunities and not problems.” “Anything is possible if you set your mind to it.” We have to change our mindset.

After all, everyone faces adversity, they dream, and they work hard.