RahulBose
Nov 6, 2011
Graduate / 'raised in a poor village in West Bengal, India' - Personal History Statement [5]
Personal History Statement. Please help me in correcting the mistakes and giving it a proper emotional ending.
"I was raised in a poor village in West Bengal, India. My father supported our extended family of 12 members (father's three brothers and their family) with his monthly income of 15,000 Rs. (300$). I could see the pain my father and mother had to go through. Not just my parents but our entire village was very poor and farming was the primary occupation. After my father got his first promotion we shifted to New Delhi. I got my first city experience in the age of 7. I got a scholarship from a local school due to my financial condition. I still remember how every student used to taunt me because of my poor English. I was also the only student in my class who didn't own a computer in the 7th grade. My father pulled a lot of strings and got a bank loan and bought me a computer. Little did anyone know that a student who couldn't speak English properly and had never touched a computer mouse before his 7th grade could be double Gold Medalist in the All India Computer Olympiad in the year 2005 and 2006. This incident was life-changing and I could see my true potential.
Even though we lived in city, poverty was all around us and we would think about our village. It was then I decided to give free tuitions to under-privileged students in my neighborhood. My father's financial condition had improved by then and he started donating money to charity and to his village.
Swami Vivekananda once said "Who will bring light to the poor? Who will travel from door to door bringing education to them? Let these people be your God-think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly". I could see my challenge, my life goal right in front of my eyes.
My passion for technology and research skills gave me nationwide recognition and every time. I was sponsored/funded by Govt. of India, NTPC, Microsoft, Google and Amazon on many number of occasions during my undergraduate study. My projects were showcased at many universities in India including the prestigious IIT's. At every invited talk I gave, people used to get inspired my life story and how I achieved the impossible.
ICT4D is my first and foremost love. I had helped the Govt. of India in developing a text-free interface for the Akash low-cost tablet which is mainly for poor students. HCI is a crucial field for ICT4D projects. My experience in HCI and my programming skills helped get me an internship opportunity in Microsoft Research which will begin Febuary next year."
Personal History Statement. Please help me in correcting the mistakes and giving it a proper emotional ending.
"I was raised in a poor village in West Bengal, India. My father supported our extended family of 12 members (father's three brothers and their family) with his monthly income of 15,000 Rs. (300$). I could see the pain my father and mother had to go through. Not just my parents but our entire village was very poor and farming was the primary occupation. After my father got his first promotion we shifted to New Delhi. I got my first city experience in the age of 7. I got a scholarship from a local school due to my financial condition. I still remember how every student used to taunt me because of my poor English. I was also the only student in my class who didn't own a computer in the 7th grade. My father pulled a lot of strings and got a bank loan and bought me a computer. Little did anyone know that a student who couldn't speak English properly and had never touched a computer mouse before his 7th grade could be double Gold Medalist in the All India Computer Olympiad in the year 2005 and 2006. This incident was life-changing and I could see my true potential.
Even though we lived in city, poverty was all around us and we would think about our village. It was then I decided to give free tuitions to under-privileged students in my neighborhood. My father's financial condition had improved by then and he started donating money to charity and to his village.
Swami Vivekananda once said "Who will bring light to the poor? Who will travel from door to door bringing education to them? Let these people be your God-think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly". I could see my challenge, my life goal right in front of my eyes.
My passion for technology and research skills gave me nationwide recognition and every time. I was sponsored/funded by Govt. of India, NTPC, Microsoft, Google and Amazon on many number of occasions during my undergraduate study. My projects were showcased at many universities in India including the prestigious IIT's. At every invited talk I gave, people used to get inspired my life story and how I achieved the impossible.
ICT4D is my first and foremost love. I had helped the Govt. of India in developing a text-free interface for the Akash low-cost tablet which is mainly for poor students. HCI is a crucial field for ICT4D projects. My experience in HCI and my programming skills helped get me an internship opportunity in Microsoft Research which will begin Febuary next year."