Man narrates story of how a railway station platform turned him into a scientist

A man transformed a railway platform into his classroom during college days, which ended up laying the foundation of his career as a scientist.

A man revealed how a quiet railway platform in Tamil Nadu became his classroom, and laid the foundation for his career as a scientist in a now-viral post on social media.

X user Dr. A. Velumani shared a post where he narrated how poverty, discipline, and relentless focus turned a modest railway platform in Tamil Nadu into the foundation of his scientific career.

In a long caption, Dr. Velumani took readers back to the years 1974 to 1978, when he was a student at Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya in Coimbatore. He explained that the decision to study there was driven purely by affordability. While city colleges charged between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000 in fees and hostel accommodation cost around Rs 200 per month, his college, which was located about 25 km outside the city, charged just Rs 300, with hostel fees of Rs 75 per month.

Even that, he wrote, was beyond what he could afford.

Unable to pay hostel fees, he found a government Harijan hostel in the city, which was free. But commuting posed another challenge. Bus fare of 60 paise one way added up to Rs 30 a month, which again felt too expensive. His solution came in the form of a passenger train, where a student quarterly pass cost just Rs 7.

That decision shaped his daily life for years.