Who Is Himanshu Hooda, A Tea-Seller's Son Who Cracked GATE And Secured Top Spot At IIT Bombay?

23-year-old Himanshu Hooda cracked the highly competitive GATE exam and secured an All-India Rank of 205 for getting admission to the IIT Bombay.

NEW DELHI: Getting admission to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay – India’s premier engineering and technology institute - remains a lifelong goal of millions of Indian youths who aspire to become an engineer from there. 23-year-old Himanshu Hooda is one such brilliant young man who has fulfilled his dream of getting admission to the prestigious engineering institute. Himanshu’s awe-inspiring achievements came to light after he cracked the highly competitive Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) exam. Hooda secured an All-India Rank of 205. Based on his scores, he also received M.Tech programme offers from both IIT Bombay and IISc Bangalore.

Family Background

This 23-year-old youth from Haryana is the son of a humble tea vendor, who faced a lot of difficulties and financial hardships in making his son an engineer from one of India’s top institutes. His father, Om Prakash Hooda took a loan of Rs 15 lakh to ensure that his son excels in his chosen path without any hindrance. Besides preparing for GATE, Himanshu also worked at his father’s tea stall that he runs on the Rohtak-Sonipat road in Sector 3.  His family migrated from the district village of Mungan to Rohtak in 1990.

Academic Career

A bright student from the beginning, Himanshu completed his Bachelor of Technology at YMCA Faridabad in 2022. Despite several obstacles, Himanshu always excelled in his academic career and scored 90% marks in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics during his senior year of secondary school at Mahendra Model School. 

Having set his eyes on the advanced Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), Himanshu also prepared for it after completing his 10th and 12th grades. However, he was unsuccessful.

Financial Difficulties

Himanshu’s father, a humble tea seller, faced a lot of financial problems in ensuring quality education for his son. The family lived on rent in a housing authority colony and Om Prakash took a Rs 15 lakh loan to pay for his son’s education. Elated with his son’s achievement, Om Prakash says he has no regrets in life since Himanshu has now realised his lifelong ambition. He even recalled how Himanshu once scribbled IIT Bombay on the walls of his home during his preparations to remind himself how important IIT-B is to him.

Reflecting on his journey so far, Himanshu said that even during his school and college years, he always helped his family in whatever ways he could. He used to serve tea to customers at his father’s kiosk. Interestingly, he was at his father’s tea stall when the GATE result was announced.