The see-saw sound of my father’s saw blade wakes me up every morning and gears me up to nail down on my heart’s desire; a desire to be an MBBS Doctor which my father dreamt of decades back. 

If only it were that simple!

Hello all, I am Sumeera. I am studying in Standard VII at GKHPS, Vivek Nagar, Bengaluru. I am an Akshaya Patra beneficiary for the past seven years. 

I am originally from a place called Chikkaballapur in Karnataka. My parents say that they had to shift to Bengaluru city to keep the kitchen fire burning. With time, my father began to work as a carpenter. He measures, hammers, and saws to create beautiful wooden crafts, shelves, etc. He studied till Standard 7th but couldn’t continue further as my grandfather fell ill and there was nobody to earn for the family. One fine morning, when I showed him my scorecard in a class test, he cheerfully said, “God bless. Be someone nobody thought you could be.” It was then my father revealed his childhood aspiration and failure to achieve it. Thence, I promised myself that I will make his dream come true and be the first doctor of our family.     

Regardless of our financial condition, my mother, Farhama does everything possible to let me study without any hassle. She has taken up tailoring to support the family’s expenses. I am putting my heart and soul to do well in school and achieve my dream. And, Akshaya Patra has been very supportive of this by serving healthy and tasty mid-day meals on all school days at my school. My favourites are pulav and curd. Thank you Akshaya Patra!