Creative Teens' Club

Ahmedabad: When Pravin Solanki was a child, his illiterate grandfather often told him in Gujarati, ‘‘Beta, moto thai ne collector banje.’’ (Son, become a collector when you grow up). The only thing Pravin knew about a collector was that he was an official whom the villagers treated like a king.
    His grandfather’s words stayed with him through the years that he slaved in the fields, helping his family till a small cotton patch in Varmor, Ahmedabad. School was a good eight kilometres away, but unlike his friends, Pravin was never tempted to bunk class and hang around the village square or swim in the pond. It was far more interesting to absorb every word uttered in the classroom.
    After college, he joined an MBA programme, and was well set on the road to prosperity. But his life really changed in 2003, when he became the only candidate from Gujarat to pass the difficult UPSC exams and make it to the coveted Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Solanki still remembers that day, when Gujaratis from far and wide streamed in to his home to congratulate him. His success gave others in the village the power to believe that Gujarati-medium students could make it to the IAS too. Solanki wrote the exams in Gujarati but for the interview, he chose to speak in English, a language he had painstakingly taught himself. ‘‘I always tell youngsters applying to the civil service that it is your talent that counts, not your caste and community,” says the man who today is deputy secretary, urban development, Government of Gujarat. “Gujarati candidates do not have to worry about English.”

    Solanki knows that the bureaucracy has its limitations but also the power to change society. ‘‘When I was in Jamkhambhalia as an assistant collector, I solved more than 1,500 land cases. For farmers, land is the only means to survival. If things are made a little favourable for them, we can make a huge difference,’’ he says.
    Solanki now lives in Gandhinagar with his wife Anjana and son Pradhyuman. His parents live in Varmor and continue to farm. Varmor, still not irrigated, is dependent on the rain. The resulting hardship has had both a good and bad impact. While village youngsters are forced to migrate to the city, the positive side is that many of them have turned to education as a solution.
    Now, Solanki’s brother Jayanti is trying his hand at the UPSC. Their father, Khodabhai, can scarcely contain his pride but there is regret about his daughters. ‘‘I feel very bad that I could not give Savita and Anandi a proper education,’’ he says wistfully. ‘‘Savita studied up to class 10 while Anandi stopped at class 6. I believe they too could have passed the IAS exam like their brother. But I realised this too late.’’