Srinagar, July 17 -- Atul Kumar, who used to guide horses and mules along the steep pilgrim paths of Kedarnath Dham to support his family, has achieved what many students across India dream of -- a seat at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

He has cracked the IIT-Joint Admission Test for Master's (JAM) and has secured admission at IIT Madras.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, Atul narrated his inspiring journey from a modest background in the hills of Uttarakhand to one of India's premier institutes.

"In the beginning, I didn't even know what IIT was," he recalls. "Growing up, water shortages and lack of awareness kept us from dreaming big. I wasn't interested in engineering until a teacher introduced me to the idea of do...