TOI report helped UP boy realise IIT dream & get a life partner too

PRAYAGRAJ: There is a saying, ‘marriages are made in heaven’ which denotes that one is destined to meet his or her life partner some way or the other.
The maxim holds true for 25-year-old Raju Saroj, the younger of the Saroj brothers from Rehua Lalganj village of Pratapgarh district, who shot to limelight after TOI covered their story on its front page on June 20, 2015.
The TOI report not only helped Raju in his education and career but also paved the way for his marriage with a Mumbai-based girl Reshma.
Brijesh and Raju, the two sons of Dharmraj Saroj, a daily wager working in Surat, had cracked the prestigious IITJEE and got calls from IIT Powai and IIT Kharagpur, but could not afford the fee.
After TOI covered their story, help came pouring in, from all parts of India and across the world. The story of Saroj brothers fascinated many, including a young student of Mumbai Reshma, who developed a soft spot for Raju. It took Reshma one year to send a friend request to Raju and on August 11, 2016, the two became Facebook friends. After four months, on December 23, they met for the first time.
‘TOI coverage of our hardships opened floodgates of help’
After five years, Raju and Reshma got married in Mumbai on February 18, 2022, and as he had to join in Bengaluru, the family organized a reception in their Pratapgarh village on Sunday, May 22.
“Being a regular reader of TOI, I also read the news on Raju and his brother on the front page and soon they were on every news channel. I was impressed by his simplicity even when he was drawing so much attention, and then decided to send him a friend request, which he accepted. We met for half an hour after four months, and things moved on to this moment,” said a jubilant Reshma.
Reshma has done MCom and BEd from Mumbai and now teaches English at a private school of Bengaluru after marriage. Her family hails from Sihipur village of Jaunpur district in UP.
Thanking TOI, Raju said: “The TOI coverage of our IITJEE success and then financial hardships opened the floodgates of help from people we never knew. We were in limelight and that has contributed to my marriage also.” "I first met Reshma on the platform of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai on December 23, 2016, while going to Pune which I often visit to inspire IIT aspirants of a coaching institute," he added.
"I am shy while she is outspoken, but she follows all family traditions earnestly," said Raju, who now works in the electric vehicle section of Mahindra and Mahindra at Bengaluru after getting his engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur.