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| Aiman Ghazli (extreme right) with her brother Kamran Rabbani and mother Arshi Hashmat. Telegraph picture |
Aiman Ghazli is on the top of the world but her happiness is only bitter-sweet.
The Notre Dame Academy passout, who scored the highest in the commerce stream from her school in CBSE this year, would have been happiest if she could share her success with her father. But Mohammed Aslam, her dear father, was shot dead on December 7 last year in Ranchi.
“I was determined to perform well for my father,” Aiman, 18, told The Telegraph over phone from New Delhi. She would surely have made him proud with the 95 per cent mark she scored in Class XII.
The youngest of three siblings, Aiman was very attached to her father. Aslam, who was a contractor with the public health and engineering department of the Jharkhand government, used to work in Ranchi. Aiman lived in Patna with mother Arshi Hashmat and sister Alivia Aslam. Her brother Kamran Rabbani is a physics student at a college in Delhi.
Aslam’s sudden demise shook the close-knit family to its very roots. “My father did not die a natural death. It was very difficult for us to accept the sudden loss,” said Aiman.
In the grip of sorrow, the young student found it an uphill task to concentrate on her studies. “I was very tense and stressed out and could not concentrate on my studies. Whenever I would sit down to study, my father’s memories would flood back and I would start crying.”
But the family came together to provide all the support that the youngest daughter needed to scale the peak of success. Well-wishers and friends, too, put in their bit so that the teenager could prepare herself for the exam.
“My mother and siblings encouraged me to study for long hours,” said Aiman. “My pre-board results were declared in February. I was not very happy with my performance. So I decided to work extra hard to perform well in the boards and make my family happy.”
The road would perhaps have been a tad more difficult if it were not for the help extended by her teachers and friends at school. Aiman recalled: “My school principal Sister Mary Tessy and other teachers were very helpful and stood by me during my hard times. All of them came to see me at home though I did not attend school. My accountancy teacher R.K. Poddar was particularly supportive, as were my friends from school.”
Even as the police investigation into the death of her father continues, Aiman is looking ahead with hope and ambition. She is waiting to get admission in a Delhi University college and study BCom. She wants to study at St Stephen’s College. If that doesn’t work out, she hopes to get through Shri Ram College of Commerce or Lady Shri Ram College.
After her graduation, the youth, who loves debating and acting in plays, wants to take Common Admission Test and study MBA.
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