In A first At Ravenshaw University, Odisha's Blind Scholar Babai Nandi Gets PhD In Political Science

By Narayan Sahoo

Cuttack: At first glance, he looked like any other PhD scholar walking proudly to receive his degree. The only difference was that a student accompanied him as he stepped onto the podium. With the degree in hand, when Babai Nandi turned around for the photo-op, his eyes appeared hazy behind his glasses, but his smile said it all - happiness and gratitude overflowing from his heart. For the uninitiated, Nandi had just become the first visually-challenged scholar of Ravenshaw University in Cuttack to earn a PhD in Political Science.

When ETV Bharat spoke to him, Babai, currently Assistant Professor at Kendrapara Autonomous College, seemed composed even when his students were celebrating the day. For someone whose life had turned dark barely at the age of five, the PhD was nothing less than a milestone.

In A first At Ravenshaw University, Odisha's Blind Scholar Babai Nandi Gets PhD In Political Science (ETV Bharat)

Speaking about the loss of vision early in his childhood, Babai narrates how a wrong dose of medicine snatched away his happiness. Despite several attempts by doctors, his sight could not be revived. "But when my sight ended, my vision became clearer about how I would chart the rest of my life. I had the determination to turn the toughest adversity into achievement," explains Babai.

Born to Sapna and Gayatri Nandi of Kendrapara, Babai had quickly accepted the dictum of fate. He knew he wanted to study and make a career that can fend for himself and his family. Within a few days, he had a chance encounter with Batakrishna Barik, a visually-impaired teacher who introduced him to Braille and in the next three months, Babai mastered it and resumed his studies.

From schooling in Bhima Bhoi School in Bhubaneswar to doing his Intermediate from Ravenshaw Junior College, Babai went on to complete his BA and MA in Political Science from the same university. Soon after he cleared the Junior Research Fellowship in the first attempt, and in four years, completed his PhD on India-US Relations under the guidance of Professor Netaji Abhinandan of the university.

“If you have strong willpower and grit to do something, you can. I accepted whatever came my way. But I wanted to prove I am capable of doing what anyone else does, even after losing eyesight. I also proved wrong people who thought physical disability will keep me down,” he says.

Babai's students find him to be an ideal teacher who inspires. “When he teaches, we listen with interest. And at no point in time, we feel that he is challenged. In fact, he is more lively and interactive than many other teachers,” says one of his students who had accompanied him to receive the doctorate.

Babai's guide and Head of the department Netaji Abhinandan has words of admiration for him. “Babai Nandi has 100 percent loss of vision. But his commitment to education is very high. The research work he has done is of the highest quality. He is not only the pride of Ravenshaw University or the Political Science Department but the entire state,” says Netaji Abhinandan.

Ask Babai his plans for the future and says he, "I look forward to teach at a premier university as a professor."

For Babai, life had been cruel, but he has seen messiahs with his mind's eyes. “I got mentors who were nothing less than divine. I cannot thank enough my teachers and guide who stood by me and never lost hope. If you have willpower, God will surely send someone to help you,” he says.

For now, he wants to concentrate on academics and students. He feels his parents and students are his world. "My disability failed to dampen my spirit. And I have won," says Babai with a smile.

Read More

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2. He Leads From Darkness To Light: Visually-Impaired Subhash Gupta Who Gives Vision To Others’ Futures