Hridesh Shaw and Shalini Wrightman. Pictures by Tamaghna Banerjee and Amit Datta

A blaze born of someone’s greed gutted his home and killed his parents and only sister, but it could not kill Hridesh Shaw’s spirit.

His was a score of 77.5 per cent in the ISC examination, which the 18-year-old wrote just three weeks after a diabolical plot to evict his family from their rented room at 276 GT Road, Howrah, heaped tragedy on him.

“I would have scored more had this not happened,” said Hridesh on Wednesday. His misery had been compounded by a bout of chicken pox that lasted till his exams.

Hridesh has always been a good student, his ICSE aggregate of 92.3 per cent fuelling his determination to become an engineer. He still wants to be one, but survival has taken precedence over ambition.

“I have to think of my younger brother (14-year-old Dilesh, who is staying with an uncle in Varanasi). I have to earn enough to pay the house rent and continue my education,” he said.

Hridesh might have died along with his parents, Ram Bahadur and Kewala Devi, and sister Deepali had he been at home on February 7, when landlord-turned-promoter Kashinath Jaiswal allegedly released cooking gas into their room through a hole in the drainpipe and ignited it. He had spent that night in his tutor’s house.

“If I am alive today, it is only because of my friends. They provided me with books, money, shelter and food,” he said.

Hridesh has been staying with a friend at Sealbasti, near Aloka Cinema, but wants to move out as soon as he can. “How many days can I live off my friends and tutor? I will have to earn.”

He has already decided to sacrifice a year of education to earn some money. “I will offer tuition to students and prepare for next year’s JEE.”