Nivya Subramanian: A Student Standing Against all Odds

New Delhi, June 16 - Getting admission in the premier colleges such as Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi and Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, is no easy task for anyone, leave alone a girl who finds it hard to even hold a pen properly. Nivya Subramanian is a Delhi girl who suffered a brain haemorrhage at the age of 14 after which she was bedridden for a few months.

Months of physiotherapy followed and her health improved a bit. However, she could never be nursed back to normalcy. Now, she can't speak fluently, walk without support or write fast. This was fortunately considered by Maitreyi College (her alma mater), and the college gave her an extra hour to write her exams.

College days

Her physical impairment impeded every step she took. Her school, St Francis de Sales Senior Secondary School, assigned her the commerce stream without mathematics in Class XI because they believed that her disability would reduce the quantitative aptitude required to study mathematics. However, she wanted to study mathematics because she had set her sights on economics honours for undergraduate studies.

"I took economics in graduation as I enjoy studying it. Besides economics, I read fiction, too. I just completed VS Naipaul's Magic Seeds," says Subramanian.

Merely getting admission wasn't enough. The biggest obstacle was to compete with physically normal children in the class. She couldn't even walk to her classroom on her own. Her father, NH Subramanian, had to help her reach the lecture room every day.

Stumbling blocks

With barely legible handwriting, passing the exams was also tough. What made things even worse was that she couldn't engage a writer - a provision otherwise given to visually impaired students. She is an intelligent girl, who has the necessary knowledge but can't express it through speech or writing.

Does she feel stifled or helpless? Could she do better had there been even more time to write the exams? Though, she was given one hour extra, it was never enough to complete the paper, considering her complete inability to write at breakneck speed. "I could never write all the points of any answer. So, I used to attempt all the questions, even though the answers were incomplete," adds Nivya.

Her three years in college kept both Subramanian and her father busy. He used to wait hours for the lectures to get over so that he could bring her back home. "In last three years, I went to the college more than most students did," he jokes. This heartening support was extended by her mother too who used to drop her at a coaching academy located near her office in Connaught Place.

Managerial ambition

After graduating in economics last year, Subramanian prepared for the MBA entrance exams and enrolled at Career Launcher, an entrance-test preparation academy.

Though she has seen many places, travel is a Herculean task for her. It was her rock-solid zeal to make it to a top B-school that left even her father awestruck. "When she said that she wanted to prepare for CAT (Common Admission Test), I wasn't convinced. I thought she was being over-ambitious. While sending her to college too, my purpose was just to keep her occupied. Girls her age should spend maximum time in college," he says.

During the mock tests, her father was surprised to see the reaction of the interviewers who called her ‘IIM material'. He says, "Those young interviewers who had come from IIM, Calcutta praised her knowledge of economics and general awareness. Though she can't speak fluently, whatever she says reflects clarity of mind," he says.

Reading appetite

Subramanian has garnered this knowledge by intensively reading newspapers, course books and novels. She reads two newspapers, motivational books and books by authors such as Charles Dickens. Whether it's reading, or having lunch, she is particular about doing everything on time. She follows a strict code of discipline in everything she does. For her, entertainment means watching TV and surfing the Internet, which also allows her to chat with her sister, who is a software engineer with Oracle, Hyderabad. She plans to join SRCC's PG diploma programme in global business operations, soon and her parents are on a "house hunting mission" these days to find a two-room rented accommodation close to the north campus so that she doesn't have to travel between north campus and her family home in Janakpuri (a distance of 17 kilometers) everyday.

Though Nivya will study to be a manager in the corporate world, she has no specific career goal in mind. "My dad wants me to sit for the IAS examinations and mom insists that I should go abroad for further studies. But I will take life as it comes," adds this girl, to whom, it seems, fate cannot deny anything.

Author: Vimal Chander Joshi (HT Horizons)

Date: 19th June, 2010

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