ItтАЩs incredible how hard life still is for women in this тАШprogressiveтАЩ world we have today. Imagine a bank that says тАШBank loans available for everyone except womenтАЩ. How does that even make sense?
Thankfully, we have things like scholarship programs to help people realize their dreams regardless their age, gender or where they come from.
Meet Nandhini Raju, a lady who works in IITM as a Project Associate in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Looking at her credentials, it is almost too easy to assume she is living the life, doing everything she once merely just dreamt of doing.
Yet, it wasnтАЩt always like this.
Nandhini is a girl from a little town in India called Gobichettipalayam in Tamil Nadu. The younger of two girls born of a school teacher mother, she lost her father while in junior school. Nandhini always had dreams about airplanes and these dreams led to questions. тАЬI always wondered why I hardly ever saw planes outside our home and even school. I thought this would change once I got into high school тАУ but it didnтАЩt.тАЭ
Moving to Chennai was the next thing, to increase her knowledge by way of a BachelorтАЩs degree and she got a scholarship for the whole four years, thinking that would be enough time to sate her curiosity about the aerospace. To her surprise, however, the four years barely scratched the surface of available knowledge and NandhiniтАЩs curiosity only increased. тАЬThe Velt Tech Mahatma Gandhi National Merit ScholarshipтАЩ helped me for four years but I just had to know more!тАЭ she says.
So she applied for Aerospace Engineering at NTU-TUM Asia. But the moment she got out there, the story changed. тАЬThe bank loan that had been financing my education got cancelled тАУ and the reason was I am a girl, and my family doesnтАЩt have steady incomeтАЩ.
How disappointing for Nandhini, who just wanted to understand airplanes and aerospace and use her knowledge to benefit her society and community. In spite of this major setback however, she was still determined to study all she could, so she reached out.
Fortunately Nandhini found Mr. Sankar Raman who was studying for his Civil Engineering exam at the time. He had complete faith in her, often saying тАЬI believe you will do something great in the field of aerospace engineeringтАЩ. Not only did this man pay her first semester fees, he also convinced her mother to let her leave to further her education.
Then, Buddy4study provided her with another sponsor; Mr. Chandra Sekar who also gave her moral and emotional support in addition to paying her second semester fees. тАЬHe was with me all through the ups and downs. Up till the time I finished my course we never met. We only communicated via email, yet he was there to help whenever I felt down.тАЭ
People from NTU also pitched in to support her dream; people like Dr. Narsimalu Srikanth, Senior Scientist and Programme Director of ERIAN at NTU. He came to know about NandhiniтАЩs situation and came forward to pay her third and fourth semester fee. тАЬFace your studies, focus with a clear mindтАЩ he always said to me,тАЭ says Nandhini. тАЬHe gave me lots of advice on presentations and paper-writing skills. He molded me a lot; he was so keen about improvements in my studies.тАЭ She lived with this kind man and his family for one and a half years.
Nandhini is grateful for the support of all these kind people. тАЬWho can believe тАУ who would have believed I would be in Singapore completing my MasterтАЩs Degree? ItтАЩs a dream come true тАУ something that was once only my imagination, now reality.тАЭ
She credits her mother as the source of her inspiration. тАЬMother was a teacher and student at the same time when I was in secondary school. She was always writing exams and studying and teaching at the same time. She never stops studying; she has more than four degrees in different areas of interest. She taught me how important education is; how important it is to have a goal in life and to achieve it. She keeps me grounded, keeps me focused!тАЭ
As at the time of writing, Nandhini has been selected to present technical papers concerning the tomographic reconstruction of a supersonic jet at AIAA and SATEC 2016, she has already had a presentation in San Diego, USA and plans to go on to a PhD after the presentation. тАЬI have already received some offers concerning a PhD from different universities in the USA and I am looking forward to accepting an offer this August. I am so excited!тАЭ
ItтАЩs hard not to be happy for Nandhini, another person living her dreams of flying high thanks to a scholarship programme. тАЬThere are lots and lots of people like me in the same programme from India тАУ like me. Most of them have financial constraints and have to work part time to meet their expenses. I too did, for a time. I notice people come here for their internship even though they have no interest in it, and when I ask why they tell me; тАШWeтАЩre getting good payтАЩ. We all came here for something better; to get a Masters of Science and we will leave here to get a job or PhD position anywhere in the world. So I advice my juniors to start with finding their real love and interested subject only. DonтАЩt go for positions either intern or thesis just because they pay well. Search for the subject of your passion and prove to yourself that you did well. The struggle ends when you can say; тАШYes, I am master of a subject or research area. This is an opportunity to find your real interest тАУ donтАЩt miss it because youтАЩre looking for money.тАЭ
Good advice anyone with a dream to fly high can learn from.
Nandhini also has a message for NGOs government organizations about helping underprivileged students by providing scholarships for higher education to needy students.
тАШThere are lots of help and opportunity for city-based schools. Teachers and students of these schools know about these opportunities and regularly avail themselves of them. But the rural part of India is mostly forgotten about or ignored when these opportunities come! There are lots of needy children who have to go through all sorts of wrong things like child marriage and child labor. Please, whenever you make scholarships and programs available for students, also make sure rural schools and students benefit from these things. Thank you.тАЭ
Buddy4Study is helping. Join hands and letтАЩs create a better world.
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