Security Guard at an ATM Counter Studies on Ground near the Machine, Picture Goes Viral

In India, the right to education is a path pinned with nails, for many. Highlight one such recent example in a viral picture, a security guard at an ATM counter was spotted sitting on the floor and studying. The image was shared by IAS officer Awanish Sharan on Twitter that shows the guard sitting on bedding and doing his chores.

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Awanish wrote. “Sharan captioned the picture with Dushyant Kumar’s Hindi poem lines, “Ho kahin bhi aag, leking aag jalni chaiye (For it doesn’t matter where, but the fire must burn).”

However, no details of the man and the place of occurrence have been reported.

The photo immediately went viral with netizens thronging to the comments section to share snaps of similar incidents that show underprivileged people who are required to toil so hard for their basic right of education. Many people showed their love, support and sympathy for the unidentified man.

This isn’t the first time when the internet has shown us what grave situations people go through to continue with their education. In 2019, a security guard at JNU cleared a course entrance exam while studying at his duty.

In 2004, Ramjal Meena was forced to discontinue his studies during graduation in order to eke out a living for his family. Their financial condition was terrible and he joined his father in labour work in Karauli, a village in Rajasthan, where he was born.

While Meena’s dream to study further was cut short when he joined New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2014 as a security guard, in a stroke of luck, he qualified as a student at the prestigious university five years later.

“2004 me padhai ko viraam lag gaya tha, lekin ab main wapas padhai karunga (In 2004, there was a full stop to my education but now I can pursue it further),” he said on Tuesday.

Meena studied in a government school in Karauli, got married in 2003, and was forced to discontinue his education after the first year in college. While on the way to his village, the oldest of five siblings expressed his happiness at having cleared the prestigious exam.

“There was a time when I had to rethink my education. My father was alone in his struggle, I discontinued my studies and joined him to get money home,” he said.

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