Hailing from a small village in Amravati district in Maharashtra, he left home when he was 18 with just Rs 40 in his pocket. He has come a long way since then and has written 24 books in Hindi. That’s not all. Despite dropping out of school in Class 8, his willingness to learn has seen him earn a graduate degree. At 62, he is now pursuing his Masters in Hindi from Delhi.

He aspires to open a book stall someday but until then, he has to make do with a tea stall near ITO in Delhi to support his family.

” Life in the pursuit of literature is beautiful because what you see otherwise does not exist,” he says.

Here is Rao’s story. We salute his dedication and hard work.