From ‘Beedi’ roller in a Kerala village to become Judge in the US, only a dream-runner could do that

By D N Singh

‘Just believe in yourself and let always not allow to decide for you’ this is the poeticization, may be, by an unknown person who refuses to be named.

From working as a ‘beedi’ roller to become a judge in US is something that many would hardly believe. Sounding like a pluck from the Hindi potboiler but it has happened on the ground.

That brings up a living life story of an India who like, got up from the ashes to fly up like a phoenix.

That is Surendran K Pattel, who like a cast iron weathered himself though the furnace of pain and poverty to reach a height that he had not though of.

In his native, he was born to a family in constant need and even minimal survival support for the family was not there. Sunderam had a will to study but circumstances became so that, he at one point became a school dropout.

Besides a few odd manual jobs, Pattel at last went down to roll ‘beedies’ near a contractor as he had to keep his family to battle poverty.  But he carried on while his will to study was within.

He went back to schools and pursued his studies.

Despite, several hurdles on the way he kept up his enthusiasm and, he decided to become a lawyer.

But that was a humongous task financially for which he borrowed money from friends and relatives to study law. At last in 1995 fate smiled on him and he got a degree in law but to reach up to that also he had taken up jobs against his choice, like House keeping etc.

It was yet miles to go for Pattel and after about a decade from that time, he became a lawyer in the Supreme Court. That was, perhaps, a stepping stone.

From the non-descript village, Kerala, to the corridors of the Apex court of the land was a huge impetus for Pattel.

With his wife getting a job in US’s prestigious medical wings, as a nurse, he had to move to the US along with but without a job. It was a tough decision but he had some dreams within. They moved to Huston.

At times odds were so heavy that Pattel took up the job of a salesman at a grocery store in Huston. Imagine the plunge, from being a successful lawyer in the SC of India, to a mere salesman in a store.

Later, however, he decided to continue pursuing a career in law, and appeared for the bar exam in the US – which he passed on the first attempt. However, he was not able to secure a job despite sending out around 100 job applications.

He did not give up at any point and got himself enrolled in the University of Huston for International law and came out as a graduate in 2011.

His ethnicity remained a hurdle:

He first tried to become a district judge in 2020, but was unsuccessful. He decided to run again in 2022, but was dissuaded from doing so due to his ethnicity.

That ordeal did not last long and Pattel was sworn in as a judge in the 240th Judicial District Court in Texas’ Fort Bend County on Sunday, 1 January.

Sunderam K Pattel, 51  took the oath of office by swearing on copies of the  Bhagwat Geeta and the US Constitution.