On a dirt track leading to Sriperumbudur, waste paper merchant Ravi flags us down and guides us along a few narrow lanes to reach his house. “If my daughter had not passed her Class 12 exams I would have gotten her married off,” he says gravely.
Reeta made it! Despite that the mood was slightly off. Ravi explains, “We expected Reeta to score 1000 marks so that she could get a scholarship, but that didn’t happen.” Reeta herself seconded her father. ”I have always scored well in my school exams. I expected to do better.”
Escaping marriage by a sliver, Reeta still nurses dreams of becoming a fashion designer. “I have always wished to be modern and take up a course in fashion,” Reeta says with a smile.