From slums to CA Amita: How this tea seller’s daughter made her dreams come true

Amita Prajapati, 27, who lives in a New Delhi slum, cleared her Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams this year – the results of which were announced on July 11. Amita Prajapati is the daughter of a tea seller and lives in a one-room house with her three siblings and parents. From house fire to slum demolition to her father being critically ill – while life has not been easy for Amita Prajapati, the determination to be able to support her family financially has now led her to clear one of the most difficult professional exams in the world.

Realising parents’ struggles

Before 2019, Amita Prajapati and her family used to live in a slum near Kalkaji Mandir in the Okhla area of New Delhi. Since it was a kaccha house, they did not have the basic facilities such as a washroom or easy access to clean water.

Amita Prajapati started her schooling in a small private school and studied there till Class 8. However, since they were four siblings, she shifted to a government school in Class 9.

While she says she was a “below average” student in her school, she was well aware of the financial struggles her parents were going through.

Amita with her siblings

“I used to get up at 5 am to stand in the queue for public washrooms as I knew that if I had to reach school on time, then we would have to wake up at least two hours early. People used to also taunt my father that having three daughters would only increase his financial burden. Looking at how much my parents struggle and work hard to give us good education and quality life, I decided to pick a profession that would give me good money in the future so that I can support my family,” she tells indianexpress.com.

‘A rich man’s profession’

Amita Prajapati was told that CA is a rich man’s profession as the process is expensive and she was discouraged from pursuing it. “Even I was hesitant at first, but when I scored 72 per cent in Class 10 and 68 per cent in Class 12, I realised my true potential. This was also the time when I got to know that CAs get paid good,” she recalls. She says that government school students get a fixed amount every year for attending classes, out of which she saved Rs 2,000 and borrowed Rs 4,000 from her aunt to pay for the registration form.

“In my first attempt, I scored 95 out of 100, and even though I was a bit disappointed, my father’s strictness and my aunt’s motivating words made me more determined. I started waking up at 3 am to study and I used to sit in a squatting posture to ensure I didn’t fall asleep. After studying for a few hours, I used to freshen up, take tuition classes to earn some money, and then attend my own CA coaching classes – for which my father had somehow gathered Rs 14,000. After that, I used to come home and study till 8 pm again,” she says, sharing how she cleared the Foundation Level.

However, after clearing the first level, Amita Prajapati started losing weight, got more tanned as she was walking to and fro to her tuition miles away in Laxmi Nagar to save money, and “went in a very depressive state” wherein she was “crying for hours in secret and had no energy and motivation to study”. After she failed to clear the Intermediate Level multiple times, someone suggested she appear for one group at a time.

“I was appearing for both groups together as I wanted to quickly clear CA, earn money and help my family, but it was only adding to the time. So, I took the advice when I saw my father cry for the first time. I promised myself that the next time my father has tears in his eyes, those will be happy tears because of my achievement,” she says.

Amita with her grandfather

In 2018, Amita Prajapati shifted to Laxmi Nagar with a few friends and paid her rent and other necessities through the Rs 9,000 she had saved from working at a firm for one month. She finally cleared her second group of Intermediate Level in May 2018 and the first group in November 2018.

‘My family slept on footpath’

Due to her skills, Amita Prajapati was able to secure an articleship opportunity in a top 20 company in March 2019. However, in May 2019, her house caught fire and things got chaotic at home. When the family emerged from that trauma, Amita Prajapati’s father was diagnosed with chikungunya, malaria, and dengue. “Doctors told us that he may not be able to survive and we felt directionless,” she recalls.

As things got better at home, Amita Prajapati was sent to Jharkhand by her company for an on-field audit. “It was my third flight and I could not believe that I have achieved this; it felt unreal. But when I landed in Jharkhand, my sister called and told me that our slum has been demolished. I understand that it was an unauthorised colony, but an advanced notice would have been helpful. My father strictly told me to stay there, finish my job, and only then return home. While I had proper accommodation provided by the company, my family was sleeping on a footpath,” she says.

Amita’s demolished house

Even as her father tried selling tea again on the same footpath that they called home, a factory demolished his new tea stall, which made Amita Prajapati more determined to clear CA as soon as possible.

‘Living my father’s dream’

While Amita Prajapati managed to clear her second group of the Final Level in May 2022, she struggled to proceed further in her studies. She started working at a Big 4 company in November 2023, where her salary was Rs 30,000. “I used to give Rs 23,000-Rs 25,000 to my family for building a house, and manage household expenses, and use the rest for my expenses such as transportation, books, and more,” she shares.

Although Amita Prajapati thought of giving up on her CA dreams and getting some other accounts-related job that would pay her Rs 60,000 per month, she still filled out the exam form and took a leave of 25 days from her company. Thereafter, she started studying and revising in earnest to become ‘CA Amita’.

“After I appeared for the exams in 2024, I got another offer from a big MNC and I asked them what would be the process if I became a CA because I was sure that I would clear the exams this time,” she says with a big smile.

When the results were declared on July 11, Amita Prajapati and her sister ditched the old routine of recording a reaction video and clicked on the result tab, only to find out that she is “CA Amita now”. With screams and tears of joy, the two sisters ran to their mother to tell her the good news.

“My father was not at home but he came back within a few minutes and for the first time in my life, keeping my shyness away, I hugged my father and told him that his daughter is now a Chartered Accountant and our shared dreams have come true,” she says, adding that luckily her sister recorded this precious moment.

It was Amita Prajapati’s mother who suggested to her a few days after the results were declared that she should upload the video on the Internet just for her own happiness. “Within an hour of uploading the video on LinkedIn, the video spread like wildfire and a friend called me to say I had gone viral,” she recalls.

A licensed CA now, Amita Prajapati has been able to secure a job in a Big 4 company and is hoping to support her family financially, and help her father and her siblings find their ground. “Once I get my first salary, I will make my mother shut down the tea stall she is currently running from our one-room house,” she announces proudly. One of Amita Prajapati’s younger sister (23) appeared for NEET UG this year, another sister (21) is pursuing BSc from IGNOU, and her 19-year-old brother has decided to follow Amita Prajapati’s footsteps and is preparing for CA Foundation now.