By Sanjana Ganesh

Madurai, July 21, 2020: Fortune has finally smiled on a 17-year-old girl from the fortune tellers’ community in Tamil Nadu, southern India.

G Dhevayani from the nomadic tribe has been flooded with scholarship offers after she topped her school in the 12th grade board exams.

She scored top marks among the students of Tirupparankundram Girls’ Higher Secondary School near Madurai.

K. Sivagami, the school headmistress, said Dhevayani scored 500 out of 600 marks in the board exams. She has always been among her top students. “She proved me right with her scores,” the principal said.

The girl’s family lives in a settlement of some 60 other fortune-teller families in Thenparankundram outside Madurai city. The men usually go door-to-door and recite fortunes. On lucky days they get 300 rupees. On other days, they satiate their hunger by just drinking tea.

Dhevayani says she wants to study Commerce and work in a bank.

“Since the day began, people have been calling and offering to help. Besides contributing to my education expenditure, many said they would help with purchase of books and provide my family with a phone as we don’t have one,” she said.

After Dhevayani’s achievement was reported in The Hindu, Vellore Institute of Technology, a deemed university, offered her full free education in a course of her choice.

“Considering her unique social background, we will offer her the course she wants free of cost. We will take care of her boarding and lodging expenses for the entire course through our Support The Advancement of Rural Students (STARS) program,” G. Viswanathan, VIT founder and chancellor told The Hindu.

He also spoke to Tirupparankundram legislator P. Saravanan and assured all support to her. Saravanan, who presented the student with a shawl, promised to financially back her education.

B. Manickam Tagore, Member of Parliament from Virudhunagar, too, assured them of financial help, Dhevayani said.

The student’s uncle, M. R. Murugan, who is a leader of the community, said her achievement was an inspiration.

“Nobody had to coax Dhevayani to study,” he said. The family did not, however, want her to study in another district as it may be hard to commute in case of emergencies.

Dhevayani says she was different from her batch-mates.

“I’ve travelled across Tamil Nadu with my family, telling fortunes using the traditional kudukuduppu. My house is a tent, and doesn’t have electricity supply. That is the difference,” she says.

“During the term holidays, the whole family travels across the state in a small cart. I have seen them (her parents) struggle to eke out a living. This has, over the years, fuelled the need for me to perform well in academics,” the bright girl explains.

When she isn’t studying, Dhevayani makes wire baskets for sale. The more complicated the design, the higher the price, she says. The intricately designed ones are priced at 250 rupees each.

Dhevayani says she is among the few girls in her settlement who have passed the 12th grade exam.

“We have, only now, seen a rise in the number of girls who have studied till Class 12 over the last five years. Not many girls go to college, though they study well,” she says, adding, “This is because it is a struggle to get community certificates from the government which state clearly that they are [from the] Scheduled Tribes. This is besides the financial problems they face.”

R. Maheswari, secretary of TENT (The Empowerment center of Nomads & Tribes) Society, a non-governmental organization that works with nomadic tribes in Madurai, says the government had provided community certificates to around 20 people from the settlement in March. “A total of 15 families from this settlement are yet to be recognized. It has been a long struggle,” she says.

Dhevayani adds that it has also taken a certain degree of effort to convince her family to let her study in college.

Her father B. Ganesh says he has decided to send her to college after speaking to elders in the community, volunteers from TENT Society and teachers at her school.

“I’m not educated and don’t have much money. So I was concerned about having to send her to the city to study. I’ve always known that she is a good student. However, I was concerned about finances,” he says.

Maheswari says her organization has been attempting to mobilize funds for Dhevayani’s education.

Dhevayani says she is sure that when she starts working her family will not start. “I want to head to college now.”

Source: thehindu.com