HAT-TRICK FAMILY: Shibu Kundu with wife Kalpana and sons Abhijit and Surajit. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

“I’ll manage somehow.”

Shibu Kundu is a determined man. He has decided that his sons will not be compelled to work before they finish studies, no matter what the consequences are for him.

With a monthly income varying between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500, it isn’t easy for 52-year-old Shibu. He does odd jobs and is unsure of what the next day will bring. There are days when he goes without work — and pay. “I do everything, from dragging a broken branch from someone’s courtyard to cleaning drains to washing utensils,” says Shibu.

For this dedication, he was honoured with the Abhirup Bhadra Memorial Thank You Baba-Ma Award at The Telegraph School Awards For Excellence on Saturday.

The same day that his younger son Surajit was awarded the Ashin Das Gupta Memorial Scholarship, for topping his school in the Madhyamik exams.

This completed a hat-trick for the Kundu family, with older son Abhijit, 19, having received a scholarship at The Telegraph Schools Awards in 2004. “I’m studying English honours,” smiles Abhijit, now in second year.

If the annual awards celebrate triumph in the face of adversity, the Kundu home in Behala symbolises it. It’s a shack, dim and damp, with a tiled roof. Several tiles are broken or missing, with pieces of glass and plastic plugging the gaps. The lone room has two beds and a small stool. Wooden planks attached to the walls function as racks, on which brothers Abhijit and Surajit keep their books.

Surajit’s score of 726 beat his nearest rival in Jagatpur Rukmini Vidyamandir by 126 marks. He has been a topper since Class VI. The school has decided to pay for his textbooks and also arrange for free private coaching.

This takes some of the load off father Shibu, who ploughs on despite chronic breathing trouble and chest pain. He hasn’t been to a doctor in years, and so does not know what his condition is called. “I went to a doctor when I started getting chest pain. That was 25 years ago. He said it would take Rs 60,000 to treat. I never went back,” says Shibu.

But his condition is no deterrent. “I want my sons to study for as long as they want,” he stresses. Shibu’s wife Kalpana works as a domestic help near their Khorgola home in Behala. She brings in Rs 150 daily.

Kalpana, whose right eye was damaged when she was very young, studied till Class IV. “I can read a bit of Bengali. I don’t want my sons to be like me. I want them to study,” she says.

Her sons have lived up to this dream. Abhijit wants to be an English teacher in school, while Surajit wants to study physics.

The boys have inherited their father’s doggedness, refusing to let their parents toil any more.

Abhijit has already started teaching at a coaching centre and makes about Rs 400 a month.

“We try to manage with that money. And for emergencies, like if my brother needs a book that is very urgent, I use the little bit of my scholarship money that is left,” says Abhijit.

ttmetro@abpmail.com