Darjeeling: Adisha Debsharma kept her grandfather's dream alive. Her grandfather used to tell her that such should be her board results that reporters should rush to their house to interview her. His dream was fulfilled on Friday with Adisha ranking first in the West Bengal Higher Secondary exams.
The 18-year-old wants to study mathematics and take up engineering as her career but side by side she wants to work for the upliftment and rights of street children. With the WBHS results being published on Friday, reporters made a beeline for Adisha's residence at Balarampur, Dinhata in the Cooch Behar district.
"I'm very happy that I could translate my grandfather's dream into reality," she stated. A student of Sonidevi School in Dinhata, Adisha scored 99.6% with 498 marks, topping the HS exams. Her father Tapan Debsharma is a primary school teacher and her mother Indira Debsharma works in the health department.
"I used to study 4 to 5 hours regularly. Along with my studies, I practised singing, dancing, painting, and elocution. I love to play the guitar also. My advice to other students is that there should be a balance between studies and extracurricular activities, otherwise studies will start to feel like a burden," added Adisha.
She has been a meritorious student all along having secured a position in the Madhyamik exam merit list also. "I love maths and would like to do my graduation in Mathematics. I'm interested in engineering too. However, I would also like to work for street children as well," added Adisha.
Districts of North Bengal produced several top rankers. Battling abject poverty and other odds, Barsha Parveen, a girl from a remote forest village in Alipurduar scripted a success story scoring 493 ranking sixth in Humanities.
A resident of Kalabari forest village, Parveen used to cycle 7 km daily in her Sabuj Sathi cycle to reach her school, braving wild animals that frequent the area from the Jaldapara wildlife sanctuary. "We are immensely proud of her. She scored so high that too in humanities battling heavy odds," stated Pijush Rai, headmaster, Shilbarihaat High School.
"At first I could not believe the news. I had worked very hard but had not expected to secure a rank. I want to sit for the WBCS exams in future," stated Barsha whose father is a migrant worker.