27 May,2015 06:31 AM IST | | Delaveen Cherag Tarapore
Sameeka Samal lost her books, hall ticket in a fire that gutted her Wadala apartment a week before her Std XII Board exam; resilient girl topped her school's Commerce branch
Sameeka Samal
With just a week to go till her last Board exam, she not only found herself without a home, but had also lost all her study material and her hall ticket to boot.
But since the CBSE Std XII results were declared on Monday, the teen seems to have bounced back, having fared a whopping 92 per cent.
Also Read: HSC student aces exam, day after losing house in fire
Sameeka Samal, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Koliwada, was apprehensive about the results, considering the trauma she had been through during the exams. In fact, on the results day, as she left the house for her chartered accountancy coaching class, she expressly told her parents not to tell her how she had fared.
Also Read: Teen battles crippling pain to ace Board exams
I lost my hall ticket in the fire, says Mumbai student - See more at: https://www.mid-day.com/articles/i-lost-my-hall-ticket-in-the-fire-says-mumbai-student/16099189#sthash.2w8d4XR5.dpuf
"I had left my phone at home before leaving for my classes, and even informed my parents not to contact me. I wanted to see the results once I was at home," she told mid-day.
But when her parents discovered how well she had done, they could not stay silent. Not only had she scored over 90 per cent, she had also topped the Commerce section in her school.
Friends indeed: It was Sameeka's school friends who came to her rescue, providing her with books and study material before the exam. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
"When my parents saw the results, they posted my score on a WhatsApp group, where my coaching class friends saw it. It was only when my friends started congratulating me that I realised I had scored 92 per cent," Sameeka recalled.
The fire
The blaze had broken out on March 28 in her apartment on the fifth floor of Dosti Acres Complex in Wadala. At the time, Sameeka had already appeared for a few papers and was preparing for her Accounts examination (âI lost my hall ticket in the fire', mid-day, March 29). "My accounts paper was scheduled for just a week after the fire, but I'm so glad I managed to score 95 marks in this subject," she said, adding that it was her friends who came to her rescue, providing her with books, notes, and other study material, including a set of question papers from previous years.
The Accounts result is particularly important for Sameeka, who hopes to be a chartered accountant some day, and is currently preparing for the CA entrance test. "Before the accounts paper, Sameeka had come crying to us in panic, as she had lost her Std X marksheet, books, certificates and even her admit card for the exams.
We immediately downloaded and printed her admit card, which I signed and gave to her. I am so proud that she scored so well and even topped our school in the Commerce section. She's a gritty girl, and we were sure she would do well even during such harsh crises," said Sameeka's school principal, Veneeta Narula.
While the result is good news in itself, Sameeka and her family are also relieved at the prospect of finally returning to their home in June once it is renovated. They are temporarily living in another apartment until the work is completed at their home.
"This period was one of the toughest in my life. I had decided to be strong since my daughter was appearing for her exams. I knew God would help us and now, after almost two months, I am finally laughing again," said Sameeka's mother, Manjula.
Blind boy scores 91.4% in CBSE
18-year-old Tapas Bhardwaj scored 91.4 per cent marks in CBSE Std XII exams. The student of Delhi Public School, R K Puram, New Delhi, who has no vision in both his eyes since birth, took the exam with the help of a writer and notched up 457 of the total 500 marks, just 39 short of the all-India topper, M Gayatri, who secured 496.
