A girl named Sarita Mali used to sell flower garlands on the streets of Mumbai with her father and is now pursuing a PhD at the University of California. She is pursuing a PhD in Hindi Literature at JNU’s Indian Language Centre. She holds MA and Mphil degrees from JNU and will complete her PhD in July.
Speaking about the same, the 28-year-old said, ‘I feel there are ups and downs in everyone’s life. Everyone has his/her stories and sufferings. This is decided in which society one is born and what life you get. Unfortunately or fortunately in some sense, I was born in a society where problems were the most essential part of my life’.
She used to sell flowers alongside her father during festivals, like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, and Dussehra. She has done this work during school time. Otherwise, she used to make flower garlands whenever she went on vacation from JNU. As the pandemic spread, her father’s work came to a standstill for the last two years.
So, this was her society, in which there were problems on one hand and optimism on the other. There were issues, but there was also a desire to work hard. She said that her family’s similar dedication and support led her here.
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Sarita Mali’s family consists of six members: her mother, father, older sister, and two younger brothers. Talking about the turning point of her life, she said, ‘JNU is the turning point of my life. Getting admitted to JNU in MA is the turning point of my life. Had I not got admission here, I don’t know where I would’ve been. A university like JNU gives abundant hope to people coming from the society where I belong to’.
In 2010, one of her relatives told her about JNU. The internet was not a thing in 2010 and she didn’t even have a smartphone till she graduated. ‘Whoever goes to JNU becomes something,’ they said and that specific sentence became imprinted in her mind. She used to say it like a mantra every day. She began studying for JNU in her first year of college. The JNU examinations were subjective back then, and she was picked for the final OBC seat in JNU for her master’s in 2014.
Sarita went on to say that her daily challenges taught her a lot. She also urged the government to establish more of these publicly supported institutions so that more students from their region can attend.
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