"Despite the best treatment and visits to several hospitals, doctors could not restore his vision. Finally, we left it to fate," his father Laxmi Narayan said. A 32-year-old visually challenged teacher from Jajpur district cleared the prestigious Odisha Civil Services (OCS) examination, securing the 300th rank in his third attempt. Mahes Panda, a resident of Bada Biruhan village in Korei block, has been serving as an Odia teacher at Adarsha Vidyalaya in Kuleilo in Cuttack district’s Athagarh since 2016. Visually impaired since birth, Panda grew up in a modest household as the youngest of five siblings, with his father sustaining the seven-member family through farming.