Srikanth Bolla interacted with students at Poornima Institute in Jaipur

Jaipur: “I may not have sight, but I have 100 percent vision. It is not visible but in the mind,” said Srikanth Bolla, founder and chairman of Bollant Industries, during an interaction with engineering students at Poornima Institute of Engineering and Technology (PIET) in Jaipur on Friday. Speaking candidly about his journey, Bolla shared how being visually impaired never stopped him from dreaming big and overcoming challenges.

Bolla, who also inaugurated the indoor sports arena of Poornima Panthers on the campus, told students that life constantly tested him, but every obstacle only made him stronger. In a conversation with students Avika Agal and Akshak Gupta, he recalled how people advised him to study arts instead of science due to his visual impairment. “When I applied to study science, people told me that I am visually impaired; take arts. But no one else could decide what was suitable for me,” he said.

Determined to follow his passion, Bolla took the Andhra Pradesh govt to court, fighting a case for 10 months to study science. “I chose the path that no one else took,” he said. His dreams of higher education in India, however, faced another setback when IIT rejected him. “So I decided to study at the best institute in the world and told those who rejected me that one day they would call me to give lectures at IIT,” he said. That moment became a turning point in his life. “I decided that I had to become the voice of the voiceless community,” he added.

Bolla applied to the top five engineering institutes in the world and was accepted by MIT in the US. “Getting selected in it was a victory for India and the community,” he said. That, he said, changed everything for him. He discovered the value of experiential learning, something he believes significantly impacted his journey.

When asked about his upcoming biopic Srikanth, he described it as more than just a film. “This is not a film, but a reality, through which my thoughts reached the people. This was the happiest moment of my life that I could also inspire people,” he said. According to Bolla, the best message in the movie is that a disabled person can do everything that others can. At Bollant Industries, he has employed people with disabilities, who, he said, have gone on to prove themselves.

Motivating the students at PIET, Bolla left them with a powerful thought: “Never wish for sympathy because it makes you lazy. You are your own biggest hero, always dream big, this is free, and there is no GST on this.”