Shillong, Sept 23: When most students packed their bags and headed to schools and colleges, Skhemboklang Lyting also packed his bags and headed out from home much earlier than any.

He would occasionally hear the school and college bells ringing and see boisterous students rushing inside their classroom, but Lyting would just pass across and ring bells door to door. His bags loaded with newspapers and other items is what made him rise at 5 AM in the morning so that he could sell and bring home about Rs. 300 and support his family.

Lyting’s family consisted of his parents (father – Mason and mother – street vendor) and his three siblings. “I sold newspapers and other items from Malki to Nongthymmai every morning. My day would begin at 5 AM and end late in the afternoon,” Lyting said talking to Hub News.

After a late lunch, Lyting then walked to his evening school and later to an evening college to pursue his dream. Throughout most of his student life, Skhemboklang Lyting went to evening schools and colleges because during the daytime he had to support his family financially. To be specific, he has pursued his education via evening classes since class 5.

He missed out four years of school due to his financial condition. He had to drop out of school after class 2, class 4, class 5 and class 6. Realising his weak foundation, he joined back class 5 later, when he joined the evening school.

“I started work from a young age and I did odd jobs from cleaning houses to cars, gardening, painting and others. When I was a bit stronger, about 14 or 15 years, I worked as a mason and also did other jobs. I never said no to any hard work,” he added.

One of the turning points in his life was when he was in class 10, when his mother became very ill and was mostly bed ridden. Even then, she tried to help the family as much as she could. As the eldest of the siblings, Lyting decided to take up more work and stated moving around town selling whatever he could from newspaper to know to water to fruits.

Another major point was during the lock down when it became extremely difficult to meet ends meet. However, he never waited for things to get better or help to arrive. He continued with his studies and started working even harder. “During lock down, there were no classes and I worked more. I didn’t know how to attend online classes; I didn’t have any facility to connect; it was very difficult,” he recalls.

However, a few days back, one of Lyting’s dreams came true and he graduated from St. Anthony’s college with 72 percent marks with honours in Philosophy. The college administration was impressed at this 26-year-old’s diligence and perseverance and honoured him.

“I was asked to address the convocation of about 2000 students and faculty members. I felt so proud about it, because I wasn’t any rank holder, I was just another student who secured 70 percent plus marks,” he said.

It was also a bitter-sweet moment because his mother, who worked very hard to support the family, passed away when he was in 3rd semester and didn’t get to witness her son’s moment of glory. “She passed away a few years back due to cancer,” he recalled sadly.

Despite faring well academically, Lyting would not be pursuing his education any further at this moment. Lyting has taken up the challenge of financing his siblings’ education, a promise he made to his mother.

“I will not be going to the university. I will want instead my younger brother to go to the university, who passed out with me and I have promised to my mom that I will fund my two sisters’ education,” he said.

His younger brother is currently pursuing Master’s from the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), while his sisters are still in school.

Lyting says that all through his life he continued to study whenever the opportunity was right. He loved maths, but couldn’t score much due to his workload, so eventually had to settle for philosophy.

“In Philosophy, I was fortunate to discover a fantastic world of human life and mind, different ideas and thoughts. I will not give up on my studies. I will do my Masters, when the time and opportunity is right. Right now, I have a promise to keep…” the boy who matured into man much ahead of his time, beamed.

At the same time, he made it a point to mention that his circumstances put him in a situation where he had no other option but to work hard. His goals also remain simple – work hard, support family and live a simple life. On that note, he smilingly mentions that he doesn’t have a social media account yet because he doesn’t have time for it.

He currently runs a small shop selling packaged water and ‘kwai’ in Malki, but dreams of having a bigger shop some day and expand his business.

On his message to other youths out there, he says “be patient”, good things come to those who continue to work hard and have faith in God.

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