Aparna Vijayakumar and Gangamma B. Dastapur received a thunderous applause at the 33rd annual convocation of Gulbarga University here on Friday. And with good reason, considering the odds they fought to be the toppers.
Ms. Vijayakumar, a native of Cowl Bazaar in Ballari, came to Kalaburagi city with her two-year-old son, and her mother, to pursue her M.Sc. And this, after she gave up her job at the bank where she had been working for five years. It was worth it as she emerged with flying colours with eight gold medals, topping in M.Sc. (mathematics). “All this was possible only because of the unstinting support of my husband, Vijayakumar, a businessman, in-laws, and my mother, who is a retired teacher,” she said. She has now set her sights on a Ph.D.
Ms. Gangamma, winner of seven gold medals in M.A. (Kannada) and daughter of a poor marginal farmer from Habballi of Yadgir district, lost her father when she was five years old and had to discontinue her studies after the seventh standard. “But, with the support of my teachers , I wrote the class 8 exam without attending school, and stood first in class… then there was no looking back,” she said. She will be appearing for the KAS examination.
