His father is a truck driver. He failed every subject in college. He then launched India's first reusable hybrid rocket and built a company now valued at ₹800 crore. Here is how it happened. Anand Megalingam grew up in Tamil Nadu, walking six kilometres to school every day. When he joined college to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering, he failed every single subject in his first semester. Every single one. His love of sports saved him. It earned him a seat at a private college where, almost by accident, he enrolled in Aeronautical Engineering. The subject took over his life. He competed. He won. And when he had enough prizes and enough conviction, he founded Space Zone India in December 2021. Before he built a rocket, he did one more thing. He made his father a co-founder and 50% stakeholder of the company. "My dad has been there from the beginning, supporting me through every challenge," he said. Work on RHUMI-1 began in January 2023. Tight deadlines. Limited funding. The first prototypes did not work. Regulatory hurdles piled up. The team triple-checked everything until the last minute. On August 24, 2024, at the coastal village of Thiruvidandhai in Tamil Nadu, Anand pressed the ignition button. Nothing happened for four seconds. "These four seconds were probably the longest four seconds of my life," he said. "I remember that the entire year, my team, the government, and everyone's hopes flashed before my eyes." Then RHUMI-1 lifted off. India's first reusable hybrid rocket, powered by a combination of solid fuel and liquid oxidizer, rose from a mobile launch pad, reaching suborbital space and carrying three cube satellites and 50 PICO satellites for atmospheric climate research. The boy who once failed every subject launched India's first reusable rocket from a beach in Tamil Nadu. And his father's name is on the company. That was Anand's first decision; Before the rocket, before the launch and before any of it.