The exam fevers are finally over and the season of results have set in after churning emotions of anxiety and exhilarations of a worthy wait compensating all those struggles!
But the story of Ummul Kher, the 28year old who cracked the UPSC exams in the very first attempt with an all India ranking of 420 who is taking the internet by storm is not just inspirational but a reassurance of one’s belief in hardwork and determination!
The young achiever in spite of the harsh hitches of life _ with a rare bone disorder and an unfortunate accident where she had to endure the trauma of 16 fractures and undergo 8 surgeries in her younger days while growing up in a slum amidst acute economic struggles, in an overtly conservative family that believed that girls didn’t need to study beyond 6th standard and even disowned and threw her out of home at the age of 14 for having dared to believe in her dreams of persistently pursuing education, Ummul Kher did not stop believing in her dreams but in fact she was immensely convinced by then that education alone was the path to bring about a change from the impoverished state of affairs.
When Ummul Kher dared to set foot against all odds moving to a separate Jhuggi in Trilokpuri, she had just completed her 8th standard at Amar Jyothi Charitable School which funded her later education while she took up tutoring children in the vicinity to sustain herself independently.
After securing 91% in her 12th exams she did her Psychology (Hons) from Gargi College and then enrolled herself at JNU for MA in international studies. While her dream of civil services simmered within she continued her long hours of tuitions but the break came in when she got the Junior Fellow Researchship of Rs. 25000 and that was when she no more had to endure long hours of tuitions for survival and could fully focus on the UPSC exams.
Today her struggles have paid off and Ummul Kher emerged as a role model, reassuring millions of students out there that truly there are no shortcuts to success and that hard work and determination alone are the foundational stones of success! And more importantly the fact that nothing is more fulfilling than rightfully securing a meritorious seat by sheer hard work and dedication!
Ummul Kher candidly shares that it was in second standard that she had first heard of the Civil services when she learnt about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and this had inspired her about dreaming of civil services!
Today after cracking the IAS exams, Ummul Kher in all her humility says that she does not blame her parents for not supporting her at all during lone struggle and as a matter of fact sees it as a compelling circumstance that led and emboldened her to take it up as a challenge and turn her childhood dream into reality!
For once JNU is in news for all right reasons demolishing the pseudo mainstream propaganda that poverty and destitution drives youth into separatism, perhaps it is time for some headmasters sons and jilted lovers to learn that it is not by pelting stones but by honest perseverance for a respectable life that can get even a street vendor’s child to hold top administrative positions by respecting the democratic system.
Ummul Kher dreams about making her dream contagious among many more not so privileged children especially girls and India needs more such role models who genuinely qualify to be called Phd Scholars without the cacophony of pseudo liberalism or the hunger for media glare!