Fields of Vision

Just 100 km away, in Markal village in Alandi, 21-year-old Kiran Lokhande has reached a similar milestone. In a fortnight, Lokhande, also hailing from a family of farmers, will walk down the hallowed portals of Infosys in Mysore as a programmer. Deshmukh and Lokhande are not the only young ones to transcend the boundaries of their villages to enter the corporate world. Maharashtra is witness to a growing movement led by the children of humble peasants, who are taking the first faltering steps in corporate streets, steps that will soon become confident strides.

“It’s a great feeling to have reached so far,” enthuses Deshmukh. After completing high school from Mahalaxmi Vidyalaya in Umraj, Deshmukh moved to nearby Narayangaon for senior secondary education. Enrolling for a diploma in engineering from the Government polytechnic in Pune got her straight into second-year engineering at Cummins, where she got placed while still in the third year of her course. The earn-and-learn scheme in her hostel in Pune helped her fund her education. Later, she moved in with an elderly lady who lived alone, doing chores for her around the house. For the first two years of the B.Tech course, Deshmukh had to depend on a bank loan, but a scholarship saw her through the rest of the course. Her parents did broach the topic of marriage initially, but respecting their daughter’s ambition, they decided to let her pursue her dream. Deshmukh wants to “earn enough to help my father and support my siblings in their education”.

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