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Prime VIP
FARIDKOT: Life gave him all handicaps it could, but not enough to keep him out of IIT.
Overcoming poor vision since childhood along with poverty, 16-year-old Twinkle Kumar on Wednesday gave reason to his family to forget all mis- eries when the IIT-JEE result showed he was at the 157th rank, no mean achievement even for the privileged.
Sethian Wala Mohalla of Faridkot, the locality where he lives, is yet to believe the son of a food hawker selling “kulche-chhole“ has cracked a prestigious test many a bright student can only aspire for.
And, Twinkle has done it in the first attempt without any tuition or private coaching -- he simply couldn't afford it -- while being up against candidates nearly all of who join coach- ing centres in big cities.
“On hearing the result, the first I thanked was God for giving me the strength and courage to work. The next were my parents and other family members, who never doubted my ability, and supported all my deci- sions,“ Twinkle told HT on Thursday.
Among the five children of Ajay Kumar and Rama Devi, Twinkle is the eldest.
He never let his poor vision come in the way of his dream to be a mechanical engineer.
His siblings, however, are not doing very well. As the father said: “The other four are average in studies. My younger son dropped out in the seventh standard, while the three daughters are
also just average students.
But Twinkle's passion over- came my poor financial con- dition too.“
The mother fondly added: “He never bothered us for extra expenses to meet his dream of joining an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
My son is silent, sharp and intelligent.“
The boy did his matricu- lation from a modest private school, Little Angles Public School, in Faridkot and then joined Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Kauni village in Faridkot district.
