A man's journey from dabbas to doctorate

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MUMBAI: Bijay Moharana was like any young man who came to Mumbai in the 90s hoping to get lucky. By the end of almost two decades, the city gave him more than what he asked for. On Saturday, Moharana (40) received a doctorate after spending a decade pursuing his PhD.

But just that is not his story. Moharana came to the city with a degree form the Utkal University. Enamored by the city and its huge urban sprawl, he would go around Mumbai all day for days on end, and slept on the CST station platform at night. A few months later, a slumdweller in Kalina offered him space in his house.

That's when Moharana found the university campus. He ran out of money and started working as a dabbawalla. Meanwhile, he also enrolled for his masters in philosophy in 1996 at the University of Mumbai.

He also signed up as a courier boy and frequented The Times of India building as a delivery boy.

Signing up for a master's course was just the route for a PhD. "My father wanted me to be a doctor. He told me that with confidence, passion and will power, I would achieve my goals," he said.

Moharana who studied the relevance of yoga in modern times, now works for the Braj Gauri Trust and teaches yoga to cancer patients. "Yoga is all the more important in today's stressful life," Moharana concluded in his thesis.

Courtesy: The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/