MYSURU: Surmounting hurdles like lack of public transport, disability and financial difficulties, these three spirited “Golden Girls” of Mysore University bagged whopping 31 medals among themselves at the 101st convocation of the university on Tuesday.
Chaitra Narayan Hegde, an MSc Chemistry graduate, Madalambike T S and Latha H N, MA graduates, defied all odds to make it big in their studies. Chaitra moved to Mysuru University as her village in Uttara Kannada district did not have public transport or good educational institutions.
She did her B.Sc from Yuvaraja’s College and got a seat for M.Sc Chemistry. She helped herself to 20 medals and four cash prizes, emerging as the highest medal winner in the university. Madalambike, who comes from Tammdahalli village in Chamarajanagar district, showed true grit in the face of deep personal loss.
Rural background not a barrier
Soon after Madalambike registered for MA Kannada exam, her father passed away. She did not lose heart, studied hard and bagged 10 gold medals and four cash prizes. Latha HN, who is visually challenged, faced problems in getting access to Braille texts and scribes to write the exams. But she soldiered on to bag a gold medal in MA Kannada. Aware of the poor financial condition of her family, this youth from Handithavalli village in Periyapatna taluk, completed her postgraduate course with scholarships.
All the three come from families of farmers and from remote, rural pockets of the state. “Lack of of public transport buses made me shift to Mysuru for my studies. Though I never expected to bag medals, I think I did ‘smart’ work, which helped me achieve this,” said Chaitra, who is working as an assistant professor now. “Considering the financial condition of my family, I wanted to opt for distance education to complete my masters. But my elder sister and parents encouraged me to take up a regular degree.
My father was happy when a girl from a neighbouring village got a medal. I too had decided that I should reward him with a medal. Today, I have got 10 medals, but I feel sad that my father is not here to see this,” said Madalambike, who is preparing for NET exams. Latha said that screen recording software and other tools helped her, though she faced problems in getting access to audiobooks, especially of Kannada texts.
“The encouragement from my parents, my younger sister and my teachers helped me bag the medal. I have cleared TET and NET exams and looking for opportunities to work as an assistant professor. I also want to train other visually challenged students who aim for competitive exams,” she said.