Triumph in the face of family travails

But what could be a hurdle for Ashwini’s aspirations are the huge costs of her education, especially her dream to pursue engineering two years down the line.
It was a bolt from the blue for the girl’s mother Shobha, when her husband Nagesh, a construction worker, died an year ago, when he fell from an under-construction building. In addition to paying the house rent, Shobha has to pay the fees for the education of Ashwini and her other two daughters, Sumathi and Anusha.

Her mother’s day-night toil was what pushed Ashwini to put in maximum efforts studying for her SSLC exam. She scored 124 out of 125 in Kannada, 98 out of 100 in Science, 94 each in Mathematics and Social Science. Her marks in Hindi and English are 91 and 85 respectively.

This student of K Puttasawamy High School chose the early hours of the day, 3:30 am to 7 am, as also 8 pm to 10 pm for her studies.

She attended the special coaching classes conducted by Ramakrishna Ashram between 5 pm and 7 pm each day and this gave her the edge.

Scholarship

The Ashram authorities also gave her a scholarship of Rs 1,500 in appreciation of her talent. The monthly scholarship of Rs 300 given to her by the Makkala Kalyana Samiti also came in handy for her.

Her undying spirit to excel could, however, be doused due to the family’s hand-to-mouth existence.

Well-meaning contributors may deposit the money in account number 7511 of the Corporation Bank branch at Highway Circle. Call 99008 89316.