Daughter of migrant worker from Bihar bags first rank in Kerala varsity exam : The Newsminute
Payal Kumari is the daughter of Pramod Kumar and Bindu Devi who settled in Kerala 17 years ago.
Payal was four years old when her father Pramod Kumar left his village in Bihar. Those were the days when Kerala hadn’t yet become a sought after destination for workers from other states. Pramod Kumar came to Ernakulam with his family of four- his wife Bindu Devi, son Akash Kumar and daughters Payal Kumari and Pallavi Kumari. The family, from Gosaimadhi village in Sheikhpura in Bihar, are settled in Kochi and live in a rented home.
Pramod Kumar worked many menial jobs, his only dream was to ensure that his children got a better life. As someone who had to drop out of school after Class 8, he held educating his children above everything in life.
But his and Payal’s hard work has paid off. Payal Kumari has bagged the first rank in BA Archeology and History (Module 2nd) in Mahatma Gandhi University for the exams held in March. She scored 85% marks. Payal joined Marthoma College for women in Perumbavoor for her graduation.
“My parents dream was to educate us. We live in a rented house. My father works in a paint shop and my mother is a homemaker. It was not an easy task for them,” Payal tells TNM over the phone.
She passed tenth standard with 85% marks and Plus two with 95% marks from the Government Higher Secondary School in Edappally. Her older brother Akash works in a private firm while younger sister Pallavi is a second year graduate student.
“There was a time when I thought of quitting studies, as it was tough for my father to educate us all and I didn’t want my siblings to suffer. But my teachers, particularly my History teacher Bipin Sir and Vinod Sir who teach Archeology and my college as a whole backed me a lot,” Payal says.
The love for archeology started for Payal while she was studying in class ten.
“Antiques, excavations, historical sites… I was curious about all this. I am not a voracious reader, but a few books I read made me inclined towards it more,” she says.
