Rajvardhan grew up in a small village in Madhya Pradesh, in a family where working young was not a choice. Both his parents started early to support their own families, and they have kept working since — farming and running a shop — so that Rajvardhan and his sister could stay in school. When his sister's studies needed more than the shop could cover, they took out a loan rather than let her stop.

His first breakthrough was admission to a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, where his schooling cost his parents nothing. It was real relief at home, but Rajvardhan already understood what it did not solve: clearing JEE would take coaching, and coaching was not something his family could buy.

The second breakthrough was a place at CoE Barwani, a residential school run by Avanti Fellows for academically strong students preparing for engineering entrance exams. The programme gave his preparation the things it had been missing — monthly tests that showed him exactly where he stood, mentors to steady him between them, and a cohort of students working towards the same thing. He settled into seven to eight hours of study a day.

That work carried him through both sessions of JEE Main in 2024 and into NIT Warangal, where he is studying Computer Science Engineering with a specialisation in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science — one of the more competitive branch and institute combinations in the country.

He is clear about what the degree is for. When he graduates and starts working, the first thing he intends to do is clear his parents' debts — the Kisan Credit Card, and his sister's education loan.