He was extraordinarily brilliant in academics and was also awarded with a double promotion twice. "After completing first grade, I was promoted to third grade and from Class VI; I was promoted to Class VIII. I loved mathematics. I even tutored some of my classmates to help them get good grades," he states. He received his schooling at Government Secondary School, Lakhimpur and was often asked to stand outside the class because he asked ‘difficult questions’ in mathematics.

 His interest in academics and the subject mathematics made him popular, "When I was in Class VIII, I could solve some of the toughest problems from Class 11 and 12 textbooks. Even college students would come to me asking for my help” he added. Unfortunately he had to drop out of engineering college because he could not afford to pay the fees and had to single handedly take care of the family.

 Innovations

Many years passed and the debt amount rose to 18 lakhs which he had to pay the bank and the small odd jobs did not really help him.

"In 1987, the bank authorities told us that we would have to vacate our home if we did not pay them the money. I was aware that a company was looking for innovators who could design a polythene-making machine. But since the existing product was available for a price of Rs 5 lakh, I knew that if I wanted the deal, I should try to create a design which would cost less than that” says Bharali who duplicated the insanely priced machine for just Rs 67,000.