Among 10 children, being the sixth one and the only one interested in studies, R. SriRamulu faced a tough time to get educated. Brothers engaged in agriculture felt education was useless and a waste of time. They couldn't even spare an 'anna' (one-sixteenth of a rupee) for buying kerosene to light a lamp at night to study. This was not because they didn't love their brother but they couldn't bear a person simply sitting and studying while they themselves were working hard in the fields. So the only financial help he could get was from his mother who saved little money by selling milk and curd. She used to reduce the size of the flame to save the kerosene while he was studying.

The school was 9kms away from the village with no bus facility. He had to walk through all the way to and fro. That too was not a smooth walk because there was no proper road, and he had to walk through the fields, often marshy. In the middle of his journey he had to cross a canal. To save money to spend on books, he used to wade through the water waist-deep. Cloths used to dry up by the time he walked to school for another 3km. Only when the water was flowing heavily in the stream did he hire a boat.

He learnt to be optimistic by observing the grains in the fields sprouting out of the soil with the hopeless showers of monsoon. He learnt to fight with the vagaries of life, from the crops being harvested that became ripe after bearing the vagaries of weather. He witnessed the fruits of hardwork while the peasants carried the harvest to home. He neither took lame excuses nor blame anyone for his failures. He dedicated his success to God and examined himself for his failure.

Having completed school studies in Telugu Medium, he joined PUC with English Medium. This time, he took a room for rent near the college. The change of medium and work-outs in the gym in the early morning resulted in him sleeping in the class room. This affected the results badly and he felt like running away to home and take up agriculture. Later, he took it as a challenge and started learning English. A piece of paper in English could escape his hands only after he had completed reading it. He ran through the dictionary to find meaning for unknown words. Soon, he got well-versed with what was alien to him earlier.

After completing PUC, his family gave up and told him that he had no other way but come into agriculture as they could not spare any money for his education. They urged him to get married and take his share of property and live separately. He then agreed to a match who offered him to buy a bi-cycle to go to college and also pay the college fees. He felt knowledge as his property and gave up his part of property to his brothers. He thus completed his studies, applied for and got a Government job.

He brought up and educated his children and guided his grandchildren with moral values. His precious collection of books forms a priceless library for us to rely upon in any context in life. His interest in gardening and the beautiful garden grown by him helped us to keep our hearts wet where we could work together to nurture our love and reationships. He always says, "Knowledge is for the sake of Knowledge; What you know is like a drop in the ocean and what you have to learn is like the ocean; A good book is a good friend"- these are the Triratnas that helped us to make a meaningful and efficient journey through our life.