Jaisalmer: It may not have been in the wildest dreams of any father, and not certainly Virendra Sinha, a retired storekeeper from Border Roads Organisation (BRO), who made Barmer his home in 1973.Even though his son, Sanjeev Sinha, had shown that he was made for bigger things very early in his life (he was the first to join an IIT from Barmer district), his appointment as adviser for the prestigious Ahmedabad-Mumbai High Speed Rail project, better known as bullet train, has been overwhelming for Virendra, who lost his wife, a teacher, 25 years ago."He kept his vow to his mother and made the entire country proud. I had never dreamt that he would become the adviser to the country's first bullet train project. He was a bright student, a topper in Classes X and secured 8th position in state merit list in Class XII. He made it to IIT Kanpur in the first attempt," Virendra said.He had taken a loan to see his son through IIT. After completing his five-year Integrated MSc course in physics in 1995, Sanjeev worked with Indian conglomerate Godrej before leaving for Japan to join GenTech Corp. for R&D in artificial intelligence in 1996. This led to some of the key technologies for current automated driving systems.He went on to acquire another masters in finance, and built his career working with Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Securities and UBS. He then became the chief country representative for Tata Asset Management and Tata Realty and Infrastructure, before becoming a consultant with PwC.On Thursday, the ground breaking ceremony for the nearly Rs 1-lakh crore project will be held in Ahmedabad in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.Speaking to Economic Times from Tokyo on Sunday, Sanjeev said, "I will be the interface between the two governments. This is a prestigious project but extremely complex. Converting the political will into actual execution will take a lot of effort."Meanwhile, his father has no doubt about the success of his son as well as the project. "He has struggled hard. He will write a new chapter in the country's history when the project gets completed in 2022," he said.A resident of Ambedkar Colony in Barmer, Virendra also has another son, Rajeev Sinha. He is an AGM with a bank in Surat.Sanjeev became the citizen of Japan after marrying a Japanese citizen. He has a daughter. (With inputs from ET)

Stay updated with all the Latest Jaipur headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.