The boy who held the wall, now holds the room.

At Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School in Chennai, Zoyeb kept his grades up and joined in class and on the field just enough that no one suspected anything was wrong. Crossing the courtyard got harder. He took a narrow passage by the cycle stand and held the walls on his way to class. He hid it for about three years. Then his father, Iftikhar, insisted on doctors, and a neurologist gave it a name: spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare degenerative condition that affects balance, coordination and speech. Two years of hospitals across India followed, and the hard truth that there is no cure yet.

He kept studying. At The New College he earned a B.Sc., an M.Sc. and an M.Phil. in Zoology and cleared the State Level Eligibility Test. Then he returned as an Assistant Professor at the same institution. "I enjoy being in the company of students," he says. "Some who know me well address me as bhai." Today he calls himself a Professor of Zoology, Ataxic, Gamer, Foodie, and Champion for Rare Diseases. He is preparing for a doctorate and hopes to run his own research lab one day.