Delhi: JNU VC meets student who went from being flower seller to doing PhD in US
Sarita Mali joined the JNU for her MA in Hindi and will now join the University of California for PhD in Hindi on the topic 'Subaltern Women's Writing During The Bhakti Period'.
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Sarita Mali, who hails from a slum in Ghatkopar in Mumbai, used to assist her father in making flower garlands to sell on the streets of Mumbai from middle school to graduation. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit Wednesday met Sarita Mali, a student who went from selling flowers on the street to getting an opportunity to do a PhD in the United States. Pandit lauded Mali’s achievements and said that government funding in JNU is worth it due to such cases.
Mali, who hails from a slum in Ghatkopar in Mumbai, used to assist her father in making flower garlands to sell on the streets of Mumbai from middle school to graduation. She joined the JNU for her MA in Hindi and will now join the University of California for PhD in Hindi on the topic ‘Subaltern Women’s Writing During The Bhakti Period’.
“JNU VC Prof Santishree Pandit met & congratulated Ms Sarita Mali, a JNU student for her achievements from a slum dweller who sold flowers on streets,now heading to US with a prestigious fellowship for a Ph.D. VC stressed that it is worth the Govt. & Ministry investment in JNU,” the university said in a tweet.
Speaking of her decision to join the JNU, Mali had earlier said: “I had decided to come to JNU in class XII itself. I had gone to my grandmother’s house and it was my cousin’s dream to study there and he was preparing for it then. My uncle told my mother she should send me to JNU too. He had said whoever goes to JNU, leaves as ‘somebody’. That stayed in my mind. I didn’t know what JNU was, but what was in my mind was that I wanted to be ‘somebody’. I started studying for the entrance exam in my BA first year and prepared for it for the next three years. I got the last OBC seat, and that was the biggest turning point of my life.”
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