BELAGAVI: Mahima S Rao, the daughter of a mechanic who has not studied beyond SSLC, received 13 gold medals in Civil Engineering, the highest this year, at the Visvesaraya Technological University convocation, here on Saturday. She said that her passion for Bharatnatyam and Yakshagana, where she has completed the Vidwat Senior course, helped her sharpen her focus on the studies. Hailing from Kasargod in Kerala which is close to the Karnataka border, she completed her course from St. Joseph’s Engineering College, Mangaluru.
A Kannada medium student till the school level she is also a virtuoso dancer,. Her parents, Satya Sai and Sridevi, were over the moon with her achievement. “We could not study beyond the SSLC, but we wanted our daughter to reach the very peak in whatever she loves and pursues. She has a great positive streak in her and has struggled a lot,” they said.