Sushma Verma
Only seven years and seven months of age, Lucknow-based Sushma Verma is perhaps the youngest ever school (class X) leaver in Indian history. But this record achievement has left the little girl, younger of two siblings, a trifle disappointed. "I was expecting a first division," says the youngster who cleared the Uttar Pradesh state board’s high school exam this year averaging 59 percent. The daughter of Taj Bahadur Verma, a school dropout and currently a class IV government employee, and illiterate mother Chaya, young Sushma derives her inspiration from brother Shailendra, who at age 12, became the youngest individual admitted into Lucknow University’s bachelor of computer applications degree programme.
A gifted student of St. Meera’s Inter College, Lucknow, Sushma was turned down as underage by several schools, when she sought admission into class IX. Therefore, she studied at home until the education department granted her special permission to write the board exams. St. Meera’s principal Anita Ratra who admitted Sushma in 2005 after a long admission test, ascribes her narrow first division miss to her tender age. "She was unable to write long answers because her fingers are not fully developed," says Ratra.
Full of conviction, Sushma has set her sights on medical studies, and refutes allegations that her parents are too pushy. "I volunteered to write the board exam because I believed I had the capability," she explains.
Unsurprisingly this young prodigy has made her modestly educated parents proud. "All my unfulfilled dreams will come true in my children," says Taj Bahadur Verma who recalls that his daughter could recite tracts from the Bhagvad Gita and the Ramcharit manas as a mere two year old.
Residing with her parents in a one-room shanty lacking all amenities, Sushma has been admitted into the higher secondary science stream at St. Meera’s. And whatever the future, you can bet she’ll be a winner. "The Bhagvad Gita teaches that if one remains focused on a fixed goal, rewards come automatically," she says philosophically.
They would be truly well deserved.
Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)
Smita Aggarwal
Pune-based Smita Aggarwal (24), who was recently awarded the CNN International Aspiring Journalist of the Year 2006 Award, South Asia (print category) and the Anupama Jayaraman Memorial Award, 2007 for women journalists, believes that there’s still a place for a traditional journalist with a nose for hard news, and is set for a career in print journalism. "My ambition is to rewrite the rules of investigative journalism by exposing the injustices and inequities endemic in Indian society. This is the prerequisite of national development," says Aggarwal, who graduated from Pune’s Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication earlier this year and signed up as a reporter with the Indian Express.
The Anupama Jayaraman Memorial Award, 2007, was instituted by the Network of Women in Media, Bangalore, for women journalists under 25 years of age, in memory of Jayaraman, a young and promising Bangalore-based journalist who passed away in January 2006. The annual award offers a citation and Rs.15,000 cash prize to women journalists writing on human rights and social justice issues. Aggarwal was selected from among 16 journalists short-listed from across the country, and her features and reports on women enrolled in the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) published in the Srinagar edition of the Indian Express, bagged her the award.
"These awards have reinforced my determination to write on social and women’s issues without fear and inhibition. Quite obviously there’s a growing market out there for such writing," says this enterprising journo.
On the threshold of a promising career in mainstream print media, Aggarwal is a committed believer in the virtues of mentorship in journalism. She attributes her early success in this demanding profession to noted journalist Muzamil Jaleel, her bureau chief in Srinagar. "He is a perfectionist and often asked me to rewrite newsreports and features five-six times before accepting them. That really helped, as it made me think harder and avoid clichés," she recalls with gratitude. Committed to her cause, Aggarwal is all set to infuse her passion and persistence into reporting and investigation.
Michael Gonsalves (Pune)