Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was not able to control his tears during a met-up with the Odia Diaspora in Rome, Italy on Thursday. The reason behind it was the heart-touching and inspirational story of a young chemical scientist from Sambalpur district who is now a Research Associate at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany.
“He is like my parent. So, I promised him I will fulfill all his dream,” were the words of Seshadev Kisan, a native of Balasingha village in Sambalpur, who had lost both his parents by the age of 18. A gold medallist in Integrated Master of Sciences (MSc) from the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) in Bhubaneswar, Sesha joined the German University on October 1, 2018.
Sharing his story at the met up that was attended by non-resident Odias (NROs) residing in 12 countries across Europe, Sesha said that he kept his promise after reaching Germany in 2018 by adopting 170 poor students of his village. He taught them every day and bore all their expenses.
Sesha reminded the Chief Minister how he had met him wearing bathroom slippers and a Nokia phone in 2018, and Patnaik had gifted him an iPhone. Patnaik had asked Sesha to give a speech at the Secretariat. On September 1, 2018, the young scholar presented a lecture on the Odisha Knowledge Hub (OKH) platform that was attended by ministers, senior bureaucrats, technocrats, academicians, and students. He thanked the Chief Minister for making him what he is today.
He said that he had lost his parents during childhood and also lost his sister two years back, no one is there in his family but the Chief Minister is there.
Sesha had lost his mother to chronic illness when he was just a year old. In 2006, his father suffered from severe health complications and could not support him financially. However, he did not give up his studies and worked as a daily wager during vacations to support his father and elder sister. His father passed away when he was 18.
He had done his schooling in the village Sevashram where he topped the annual school examinations for five consecutive years. In 2005, he bagged the Best Student Award and also topped the Navodaya entrance exam. In fact, he was the only student from the Naktideul block to get into Navodaya Vidyalaya in Sambalpur where he studied from class VI to XII. He had scored 92 percent and 86 percent in his class X and XII exams respectively.
In 2012, Sesha cracked the National Entrance Screening Test (NEST), securing the 17th position but tragedy struck when his father passed away. Later in 2013, he again cleared the NEST, securing the 15th position, and was admitted into the five-year integrated MSc course at NISER. During his studies in Bhubaneswar, he used to save his stipend money and take tuition to meet his expenses, take care of his sister, and return the money he had borrowed for his father’s treatment.
Today, Sesha specialises in organometallic catalysis, which is a part of synthetic chemistry. He is also good at extracurricular activities and has won many awards. After attending the lecture of Sesha on September 1, 2018, the Chief Minister congratulated him on the endeavour. He said that former CM late Biju Patnaik would have been truly proud as he always wanted a confident Odisha. “Sesha Kisan is a fine example of confident and empowered Odisha. I wish him all the success in his life,” he added.
