New Delhi: Once, Lakshman Singh Potai, Santosh Kumar Usendi and Butia Ram Kurram may have hunted in the forests of

in their free time. Now they have social media accounts, know some English, and Potai at least is the proud owner of a selfie-stick. The first kids from Abujmarh-Gondi for "unknown highlands"-to take admission in

, will graduate from Hindu College this year with honours degrees in physics.

Their move to Delhi in the summer of 2013 was momentous. The Chhattisgarh chief minister had organised a farewell; the governor had written a letter of introduction saying, "They are remarkable in the sense that they come from

area of

, which remained impenetrable to the administration till recently and is Naxal affected." In 2014, a fourth teen, Nihal Nag from Matenar in Dantewada, joined DU. Three of them hope to be civil servants; Kurram wants to appear for CAT.

They owe much of their English skills to their friends. "Our Manipuri friends don't speak Hindi at all," explains Potai. He knows Chandni Chowk thanks to a group project in first year; they've watched movies in Connaught Place theatres; sampled the fare at different college canteens and had Manipuri fish at a friend's place near North Campus. When he goes home, Potai and Santosh buy sweets from a shop in Dwarka's sector 11 and clothes from Karol Bagh. But the long commute between hostel and college-they stay at Utkarsh, Chhattisgarh government's Tribal Youth Hostel in Dwarka-leaves little time for other things they're good at, football and music. "They're also doing well in class. They're the youngest here but have set an example for the others who are preparing for

exams," says Dinesh Jha, assistant commissioner with his office at Utkarsh. Potai has an average score of 80% over five semesters; Usendi has 56% and Kurram-currently at home recovering from fever-has about 70%. "This experience has given us confidence," says Potai. He'd encouraged Nag to pick DU physics over engineering in Hyderabad.

Nag is a second-year physics student at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College. His mother, Kamala Vinay Nag, the district panchayat president, is a bit of a phenomenon back home. "She was abandoned by her father in Tikanpal. Villagers raised her and funded her education. She's studied till Class XII," says Nag. His father passed away in 2013 and a younger brother has cancer. Their treatment so debilitated the family's resources that when Nag came to DU they "didn't have enough to eat." On his 2014 winter break, he'd encouraged his mother to contest elections and walked with her to the collector's office to file nominations. On his next visit, in winter 2015, he scuttled a child marriage.

Their homes are changing too. Buses now reach more villages-Usendi's is 75 kilometres from Narayanpur, the district headquarters, but now has a road going to it-there are more CRPF personnel but electricity is still a problem. Nag says Dantewada is very different from its image. "It's developing and we have everything. I posted photos of Chitrakoot and Tirathgarh waterfalls on Facebook and got many likes. Our friends want to visit," adds Potai.

Abujmarh was inaccessible even to government surveyors for a long time. Till 2009, the Maoist stronghold was a no-go zone for "outsiders" and the government itself relied on NGOs to deliver basic services. Naturally, there's still much ground to be covered. "People either don't know about government schemes or how to sign up," says Potai.

Jha is convinced the boys will speed things up. Potai is already preparing to write the state public service exams and has an inch-thick folder of notes to show for it. "I want to be in a position to do something for my people."