Farmer’s girl, colonel strike gold at BU convocation

Swaroop S Lohit, an army colonel posted in Nagaland, won three gold medals in MBA (Finance). 

The list of achievers from underprivileged backgrounds striking gold, topping various streams at Bangalore University, is growing.

At Bangalore University's 54th convocation, after the daughters of a KSRTC employee and an auto driver, the new addition is Asha K N, the topper in MA (Kannada). Asha is from Kalahalli village in Hassan district. The second daughter of a daily wage farmer, Asha studied in BU, staying in the hostel, while her elder sister financed her studies.

Asha walked with six gold medals on Monday at the convocation. The BA graduate had completed her degree through distance education programme at the University of Mysore. She hopes to become a civil servant.

Asha was forced to take up distance education as her father was unable to afford the full-time college fee. “We are five siblings. My father could only bear the education expenses of one. As my brother was to join his diploma, I was forced to join distance education. For a year, I was working in a factory. My dad alone could not meet family needs. Later, my elder sister started working as a teacher. She took care of my expenses for the master's,” Asha told DH.

The MA Kannada topper is now preparing for civil service exams. “I am mainly dependent on newspapers, news channels, the public library and some study material given by a few people,” she added.

Besides Asha, Swaroop S Lohit, another Hassan native, now an Indian Army colonel in Nagaland, bagged three gold medals in MBA (Finance). The 50-year-old achieved this during two-year study leave, granted by the army for its members to enhance qualifications. Lohit, who will be reporting back to duty shortly, had completed his MTech in 1993. “I served as a scientist in DRDO for a year. The army wanted me to do an MBA in finance. As I am from the science background, I found it really hard to cope with finance,” said Lohit.