Celebrations At Fruit Juice Seller's House As His Daughter Beats All Odds To Crack NEET Exam

The daughter of a juice seller in Tamil Nadu has cracked NEET exam. Her story isn¡¯t short of any inspiration as preparing for the exam living in a small house with seven other members wasn¡¯t easy at all. But her hard work and determination gave her the success.

Charumathi and her family lost their house located on the banks of Adyar River in the floods in 2015 and then the family moved to Perumbakkam in a house provided by the government.

Charumathi J with her sisters and niece. Photo: The New Indian Express

The small house of 310 square feet indeed gave the family roof over their heads, but getting quite place for preparation of the exam wasn¡¯t possible as the family had four sisters, one of whom also has a child.

A student who completed her studies from the government school, Charumathi managed and compensated with more hard work and secured a seat in Pudukkotai government medical college.

¡°I took a year after Class-XII to prepare for NEET,¡± she told The New Indian Express.

¡°I went for private coaching for five months, at an institute in Adyar. But I spent most of my time travelling between Adyar and Perumbakkam. So I discontinued and prepared from home for the next five months.¡±

Her score was an impressive 370.

Charumathi¡¯s father Janakiraman sells fruit juice on the roadside and earns around Rs 800 on a good day. But it was Charumathi¡¯s passion for studies that made her family forget financial problems and support her studies with everything they could do including borrowing money from neighbourhood.

Her family spent over Rs 1 lakh when Charumathi prepared for the exam with the help of a five-month-long private coaching.

Shankari, Charumathi¡¯s elder sister borrowed Rs 88,000 from three neighbours while an NGO sponsored Charumathi¡¯s studies with Rs 20,000.

"She is a very quiet girl. I used to feel guilty because we were her biggest distraction," says Shankari. "There are seven of us in this house, there was no way we could give her a separate room to study."

Representational Picture

In order to find quite time to study, Charumathi studied at night when family would sleep and literally living up to saying, ¡®burning the midnight oil¡¯.

"She would wake up at odd hours and study. Anytime I wake up in the middle of the night, I would find her studying."

Charumathi says she has kept away from movies, sports, and even friends all her life. "I kept away from anything that would distract me from my goal."

"I knew what I wanted to become since I was a child. I became a little unsure when NEET was introduced. But I was determined to give my best." Charumathi¡¯s feat to be recognised by the Slum Clearance Board as the Board has decided to present her with cash reward.