The girls with their fathers in Calcutta on Saturday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Calcutta, Aug. 31: All three are teenagers. That is not where the similarity ends.

Sisters Bhupali and Beauty Roy and their friend Shyamoli Barman cycle 2km through the Gorumara forest to reach Purba Batabari Chandramohan High School every single day.

The girls also have another thing or two in common — they have an indomitable spirit and their fathers are elephant trainers or mahouts who are struggling to help them fulfil their dreams of becoming teachers and nurses.

To salute their indomitable spirit and to help them achieve their goals, the three girls were given scholarships at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence on Saturday at the Science City auditorium.

“I want them to study. But I don’t know how far I will be able to support them,” said Anukul Roy, Beauty and Bhupali’s father. The Roys live in the national park itself, 690km from here. Roy earns Rs 2,500 a month, barely enough to run a family of seven leave alone educating two daughters and a son.

Dinabandhu Barman does not mind the struggle as long as his daughter Shyamoli and son have a good life and don’t have to take risks every single day just to be able to support the family.

“No animal can be tamed. They respond to us because of fear. So you never know what they will do. Training them or taking care of them is always risky and I don’t want my children to take that risk,” said Barman who became a mahout following his fathers footsteps at the age of eight. Barman was the one who trained and helped ship two elephants Rahul and Devi to Japan.

After school, the girls come home and help their mothers with household chores before settling down in the evening to study under the light of a lantern.

Beauty, who wants to become a teacher, said: “I want to teach in Nursery so that children get interest in continuing with their studies.”

Her sister Bhupali wants to become a police officer and work against poaching in the jungles.

“My maternal uncle is in the BSF and I always wanted to be like him,” said Bhupali who loves watching Ajay Devgan’s films. Shyamoli’s call in life is nursing even if that means giving up her most beloved subject — English.