13-year-old Harendra Singh Chauhan is a class 9th student in a school in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He was spotted by a metro passenger outside the Noida City Centre metro station, at night, studying under a streetlight on the pavement. He had a weighing scale along with him. The scale was his only way of making money to fund his studies.
The metro passenger, Vikas Sharda , decided to take a picture of the boy studying there and posted it online.
“I picked up my father’s weighing machine and set off for the station. I took my books along as I did not want to waste my time waiting for customers.”
“My father lost his job in 2013. After that, he bought a weighing scale and would sit where I did at the station to earn a living. In June, both my parents went to our village in Etawah and I realised I had to complete some projects for my holiday homework. For this I needed to buy some paper, colours and files but had no money. So, I picked up my father’s weighing machine and set off for the station. I took my books along as I did not want to waste my time waiting for customers. The first day I earned Rs 60, and slowly I was able to save about Rs 200 for my project work,” he told TOI.