Hailing from a small village in Karmala in the Solapur district, Somnath Giram, 28, the son of a marginal farmer, has come a long way after cycling 40 km a day to attend school.
Due to his poor financial background, Somnath Giram considered dropping out of school after the Class 10 State Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), like his older brother and sister, as he could not afford to buy textbooks and notebooks.
Undeterred, he took up manual jobs in the fields and raised money to continue his studies and pay his fees, as well as books and other study materials to complete upper secondary school in his hometown.
Realizing his abilities with financial figures, and understanding the teacher advised him to go to Pune and Follow his B.Com. which he completed in 2009, followed by his M.Com. in 2012.
At the same time, he began studying for his CA course but was bogged down by high fees and expensive books, training class fees, and other expenses.
Without losing hope, he established a small tea shop in Pune's Sadashiv Peth Perugate Plaza in 2013, which soon grew in popularity and ran a business that helped finance his California studies.
After running the tea shop for nearly 12 hours, he spent an extra 5-7 hours studying, often working late into the night.
His hard work and dedication finally paid off, and he passed this year's CA exams with 55 percent marks, the only one reaching about eight percent of the total candidates declared successful.
Although he has not planned to close his tea shop, he hopes to launch his own CA firm and serve the country in some way in the future.
