Girl from Dooming Kuppam is school topper at St. Raphael’s. Liffy Thomas on the super achiever

Six years ago, it was a difficult decision for N. Sinduja to take. She wanted to switch over to English medium like her other classmates, but stopped herself from doing so did not make the move.

“I did not want to burden my father with more fees to pay. Also, I was not confident if I would shine equally well in English medium,” explains Sinduja.

Today, whatever lingering regrets she had about not making the switch have disappeared.

The student of St. Raphael’s Girls Higher Secondary School, Santhome, is the first Tamil medium student to top her school with 1,160 marks.

In the Dooming Kuppam fishing hamlet at Santhome, where she lives, she is possibly the first student to rack up such a high total.

Her stock has gone up among her family, friends and neighbours.

“I got centum in business maths and commerce, 199 in accounts but lost most of my marks in English,” she says, talking to us from her single-room Housing Board quarters where she lives with her father, mother and grandmother.

Her father A. Nethyanandam is a coolie and her mother N. Mageshwari, a homemaker.

“There were many financial hurdles in educating our two daughters, but her father was always particular that he met their demands even if it meant sacrificing our comforts,” says Mageshwari, adding that Sinduja would walk from her home to school. She never had to be told to study.

According to Sr. Ranjitham, headmistress of the school, 285 students appeared for the Board examination and a majority of these students are from the fishing hamlets.

A class topper through her school days, Sinduja even taught her classmates.

“That helped me a lot,” says Sinduja, who wants to pursue CA and become an auditor. In class X, she scored 427 marks. Sinduja never took tuitions and was guided by her sister Sasi Rekha, who completed her BSc in maths and accounts.

On the one hand, Sinduja is happy about her marks, but unsure of how she will pursue CA. “I will have to go for coaching and I heard that the fee is a huge,” she concluded.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> DownTown> Mylapore / by Liffy Thomas / Chennai – May 19th, 2014