Pinki Haryan, once a child beggar, is now a qualified doctor raring to serve the destitute and give them a better life.
Shimla: As a child, Pinki Haryan, along with her parents, begged on the streets and scavenged for food in garbage dumps in Mcleodganj. Twenty years and a Chinese medical degree later, she is now burning the midnight oil to clear an exam that will make her eligible to practice medicine in India.
It was in 2004 when Lobsang Jamyang, a Tibetan refugee monk and the director of Dharamshala-based charitable trust, spotted Haryan begging. Days later, he visited the slum cluster at Charan Khud and recognised the girl.
Then began the uphill task of convincing her parents, especially her father Kashmiri Lal, to let her pursue education. After hours of persuasion, Lal agreed.
Haryan got admission into the Dayanand Public School at Dharamshala and was among the first batch of students at a hostel for destitute children set up by the charitable trust in 2004.
Ajay Srivastava, president of NGO Umang Foundation, who has been associated with Jamyang for the last 19 years, said initially, Haryan missed her home and parents but kept her focus on studies, which she realised was her ticket out of poverty.
Soon enough, the results were proof of her dedication.
She passed the senior secondary examination and also cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate). The NEET is an all-India entrance exam for admission to undergraduate medical courses, Srivastava said.
However, the doors of private medical colleges remained shut for her due to the exorbitant fees. With the help of the Tong-Len Charitable Trust in the United Kingdom, she got admission to a prestigious medical college in China in 2018 and has returned to Dharamshala recently after completing her MBBS course, Srivastava said.
After a wait of 20 years, Haryan is a qualified doctor raring to serve the destitute and give them a better life.
“Poverty was the biggest struggle since childhood. It was painful to see my family in distress. As I got into school, I had an ambition to become successful in life,” Haryan told PTI.