Considering girls of her age, 18-year-old Bushra Arshad is an exception. At a time when most of her classmates have accounts on Facebook and carry cellphones with messaging apps, Bushra was happy using her father’s cellphone, in times of emergency, and to contact friends, if needed. The girl, however, will soon be getting a smartphone as gift from her father for securing fourth rank nationally in the Class XII board examination, the result of which was declared by the CISCE Monday. The Central Kolkata based family is still in celebration mode after Bushra scored 99 per cent in ISC exam. The eldest daughter of Arshad Hossain, employed with the state food and supplies department, Bushra now dreams of becoming an IAS officer. “I know that a month’s or even a year’s preparation is not enough to help you crack the IAS examination. But I am preparing. I read the newspaper everyday so that I am aware of all the current affairs,” Bushra, who is ranked top among girls from Muslim community in West Bengal, said. The youngster loves to play badminton and football and had helped organise shows and fests at Our Lady Queen of the Missions School, Park Circus, where she studied till Class X before moving to Modern High School for Girls for her plus-two. “I had set targets but never set timings for my studies. On an average I studied five hours a day. For the last two months it was about eight hours a day”. “She had been a consistent performer in academics and her co-curricular activities. Even in Class X, she had scored 98 per cent,” said Khurshaidi Begum, Bushra’s grandmother. Bushra doesn’t have a cellphone and is not on Facebook or WhatsApp. “It is not because I am not tech-savvy, but I had no use use for them till now,” said the girl who has now asked for a smartphone from her father.
