How a Mussoorie girl beat all odds to study
Times of Bennett | Updated: May 22, 2021 17:21
By Sakshi Bagri
GUWAHATI: Riya Das a 22-year-old fromMussoorie , graduated from G.R.D IMT in Dehradun , B.Sc . Microbiology, is from a lower economic group. With an alcoholic father and sharing one room with four people, she managed to thrive in any condition and through tough times .
She went through a lot when she was young, despite all these she topped her school in Biology and Riya is among 20 students who have made it to M.Sc. Microbiology in a government college inSrinagar , Uttarakhand. She credits her mother for all her achievements. She did a lot of jobs to support Riya and her family. She Riya used to cry a lot because of the conditions she was in but not anymore as she says, "Crying won't help me but working hard for what I want, will, I realized this as I matured."
Her school didn’t have the best resources and herteachers demotivated her and told her that she will never achieve anything. “They always encouraged the hostlers and never bothered to help us,” said Riya. She also mentioned that she didn’t have much help from the school and did a lot of self study to prove her teachers wrong. She used to travel 35 km from Mussoorie to Dehradun everyday to attend her college. She didn’t have anyone to guide her and was often told by her own family members that studying isn’t going to get her good in-laws in the future. She said that her grandmother doesn’t like her studying and insist on marrying her as soon as they can and sometimes her father agreed to it.
Riya wants to travel the world and became independent but she has a family who doesn’t trust her. “My mother doesn’t like when I talk to boys, she doesn’t trust me and all I want is their trust so I can be a little free,” she said. She has two brothers and said that she is discriminated at times. She gave an example, if Riya and her brothers spent some money she would be interrogated about how she spent it but her brothers won’t face any questions.
Riya wants to work in the army as a nurse and is preparing towards achieving her goal. She wants to became independent and travel the world and give back to her family especially her mother. With all the problems and maybe more to come she has managed to make the best of what she has.
Riya Das, 22-year-old from Mussoorie
(The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of TheTimes School of Media .)
GUWAHATI: Riya Das a 22-year-old from
She went through a lot when she was young, despite all these she topped her school in Biology and Riya is among 20 students who have made it to M.Sc. Microbiology in a government college in
Her school didn’t have the best resources and her
Riya wants to travel the world and became independent but she has a family who doesn’t trust her. “My mother doesn’t like when I talk to boys, she doesn’t trust me and all I want is their trust so I can be a little free,” she said. She has two brothers and said that she is discriminated at times. She gave an example, if Riya and her brothers spent some money she would be interrogated about how she spent it but her brothers won’t face any questions.
Riya wants to work in the army as a nurse and is preparing towards achieving her goal. She wants to became independent and travel the world and give back to her family especially her mother. With all the problems and maybe more to come she has managed to make the best of what she has.
Riya Das, 22-year-old from Mussoorie
(The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The