Blind
Girl finds her place in Sun
By
Pinak Priya
Bhattacharya/TNN
Jalpaiguri:
She still remembers the red glow of sunrise. She can
recall the green fields around her home, birds fluttering
in the sky and the little red and yellow dress she first
wore to school. Thereafter, the world turned dark. Fate
had dealt a cruel blow to her at the tender age of five.
But
Nilanjana Sen was made of sterner stuff. Our homegrown
Hellen Keller proved to herself, her parents and the
world that visual impairment is no impediment on the
road to success. Today, this 26-year old girl from Jalpaiguri
is an inspiration to thousands like her. She has just
cleared the college service Commission and is waiting
for her appointment letter.
Nilanjan’s
story is one of grit, stamina and an indomitable will
to succeed.
After
losing her sight, she took admission in Calcutta Blind
School in1986 and began studying using Braille. In 1994,
she appeared for her Madhyamik examinations she was
provided a helper who wrote the answers. Results showed
she would go far. She passed in the first division.
Then she returned to Jalpaiguri and got admitted at
PD women’s college. In 1996, she cleared higher secondary,
again in the first division. Three years later, she
topped North Bengal University in English (Honours)
with55 percet.
In
2001, Nilanjana topped in her post graduation with 63
per cent marks.
With
every exam she cleared, her determination to do better
got stronger. In 2002, she cleared the National Eligibility
Test(NET) and also received a scholarship for doing
research. She picked Mahesh Dattani, the contemporary
Indian dramatist writing in English, as her research
topic.
In
may this year, Nilanjana appeared for the college service
Commission interview. Results were out in October and
her name was sixth on the panel.
“We
were all very upset when Nilanjana lost her vision.
But she recovered from the shock very fast. These days,
whenever I venture out, I hear people saying’look he
is Nilanjan’s father’. I am really a proud father,”
said Arun Sen, hugging her daughter.
And
what does the lady herself say of her achievement. “Yes,
I am blind. But you can’t pass your life lamenting over
it. You have to come out of it to survive.”
Source:
Times of India
Dated:
December 12, 2004.
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