The Dhaka Times Desk Even after birth, he was close to flowers, but cut was his companion. The girl who sold flowers on the street through life's setbacks now has the opportunity to get a PhD at the University of California in the United States!
For 28-year-old Sarita Mali from Mumbai, everything seems like a dream. He shared the stories of his flower-cutting life with NDTV.
Sarita is currently pursuing her PhD on Hindi Literature at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He also obtained MA and MPhil degrees from the same university. Will submit PhD thesis next July.
Narrating the story of her life struggle, Sarita said, I think every human being has ups and downs. Everyone has their own struggle stories. Fortunately or unfortunately, whatever you say; I was born in a society where problems were an important part of my life.
Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali used to sell Sarita flowers with his father on various big religious festivals. This is what he did during his school days. Even after joining the university, whenever he got a break, he used to make flower garlands.
Sarita has seen only flowers since birth. The two sides of his life were a struggle to survive by selling flowers, on the other side there was hope or aspiration.
Parents and Sarita
Sarita Mali's family consists of parents, an elder sister and two younger brothers. The sole breadwinner is his father. Sarita's father stopped working two years ago after the Corona outbreak. Until then selling flowers was their only source of income. When the work of selling flowers was stopped during the lockdown, his father moved to the village home Jainpur.
Sarita said that she has worked hard in a life plagued by so many different problems. Persistence towards goals and support from family helped him reach the pinnacle of success.
Jawaharlal Nehru University basically turned his life around. Sarita said, after admission in this university, my life turned completely around. I don't even know where I would be if I hadn't been admitted here. Universities like Jawaharlal show a lot of hope to many students who have come from the marginal stage like me.
In 2010, Sarita first learned about Jawaharlal Nehru University from her cousins. Many things were unknown to him then. Internet was not available to him at that time. He didn't even own a smartphone before graduation. Cousins suddenly one day taunted him and said, what will he do in this university! Sarita was deeply hurt by these words. Then he started preparing for JNU admission from the first year of graduation. In 2014, he got an opportunity to get admission in Masters here after passing the exam.
He has worked hard day after day and learned a lot from there - said Sarita.
In this struggle of his life, he has faced many mixed reactions from around. "Many people have been inspired by me, many have said, my father does little work, but I am studying in university. Many people are asking what I have been studying for years, etc., said Sarita Mali.
'Sometimes I feel like I'm dreaming. But now I feel that there is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.'
Sarita is one of JNU's youngest researchers. He was admitted here for MPhil at the age of 22.
'Whenever I think back to the struggle, I look at the society I came from - I can't believe this journey. After coming to JNU, my belief was born that we can achieve a lot if we want to,' says this indomitable young woman who has conquered dreams.
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