They aren’t all toppers but they have come out on top in the examination of life. Their marks aren’t so much a measure of merit as they are a reflection of their resolve to beat the odds. They aren’t role models for what they have achieved but for how they have done so.

Metro meets five bravehearts whose extraordinary stories of struggle cut through the hype and hoopla about marks on the day of the Higher Secondary results.

Kaushik Chatterjee

When he was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2009, Kaushik Chatterjee knew it would test him like no examination can. For the next three years, his life revolved around hospitals: chemotherapy, radiation, blood transfusion and powerful drugs that fought the disease but also wracked his body.

In between, he cleared Madhyamik, two years after he would have had illness not struck.

If something kept the 20-year-old from Uttarpara Government High School going through the tough times, it was his positive attitude. “I never set myself a target. I only try to keep looking forward and not think of what happened or might happen,” he said on Monday, flush with the satisfaction of a battle fought hard and won.

Four years ago, few would have given Kaushik a chance of studying science and scoring 82 per cent in HS 2013. Here was a boy who had just been through cycles of chemotherapy and become so weak that he was susceptible to infection the moment he stepped out.

But Kaushik wanted to return to school after passing Madhyamik in 2011. He also wanted to study science.

“I would easily catch an infection, accompanied by fever and other complications. Worse, I couldn’t take medicines that others could. My medication was under strict medical supervision. But I was determined to fight it out,” the young man recalled.

In school, Kaushik would mostly attend the practical classes and skip the theory lectures, lest he catch an infection. He was still taken ill at least four times after his Class XII selection test. Fortunately, HS went off without a hitch.

On Monday, the 20-year-old was already planning for the future. His mantra: always look ahead, not back.

Aditi Gupta

She lost her parents in a fire accident at home barely a fortnight before her Higher Secondary examination but Aditi Gupta had little time to mourn, let alone sit out the test. “I could not have let my late parents down. They would have blamed themselves, wherever they were, if I didn’t write the exam,” said commerce student Aditi, who scored 73.4 per cent.

Aditi’s mind wandered back to the February 27 fire incident that took away her parents the moment she learned about her examination result on Monday.

“My success is incomplete without my parents. This score is not enough and I know I would have got more had my parents been alive,” said the student of Sree Digambar Jain Balika Vidyalaya.

Aditi, who turned 18 last week, knows she has “a long battle to fight”. She is still unable to sleep properly, haunted by the nightmare of her parents’ death three days apart. The only thing that steels her is the thought of her goal: an MBA degree.

“My parents, especially my mother, wanted me to do that and I won’t rest till I have fulfilled this wish of theirs. I know that my parents will rest in peace only the day I complete my MBA. That will be my tribute to them,” Aditi said.

Poulami Dutta

She is 19 and has had five spine surgeries but few can hold their heads high like Poulami Dutta.

Poulami, a student of Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan, passed HS 2013 in humanities with 87.2 per cent on Monday. Nobody in her school has a higher aggregate but that isn’t why Poulami is an inspiration to everyone.

“I have gone through so many surgeries but I decided not to let my physical condition get the better of me. I had to prove that through academics,” said Poulami, who had been forced to take a year’s break after Madhyamik because of impending surgery.

Poulami’s history of pain dates back to 2005, when she had to undergo two surgeries for syringohydromyelia, a disease of the spine. So acute was her back pain that she needed to lie down after sitting for two to three hours at a stretch.

In 2007, Poulami was diagnosed with scoliosis, or curvature of the spine. She underwent surgery in Chennai in 2010 to have a metal implant placed on her spine to prevent the curvature from progressing and everything seemed to be going well when infection struck.

“She was ready to be discharged when suddenly an infection developed. She had to endure two more surgeries,” recalled father Debasish Dutta.

Poulami wrote her HS papers at Patha Bhavan, seated on a wooden chair with two pillows to support her back. “I would feel the pain coming after two hours of sitting. But I tolerated it so that I could complete each paper.”

Poulami’s father said her score of 87.2 per cent would “boost her confidence”. What he didn’t say is how she has inspired thousands of others.

Sayantan Banerjee

He studied in a school for the visually impaired from classes I to X but Sayantan Banerjee had had enough of being looked at as different.

A score of 88 per cent in Madhyamik was his passport get to Patha Bhavan and he hasn’t looked back.

“I wanted to challenge my circumstances. I said to myself, ‘let me try to take a step forward and see how I fare’,” recalled the braveheart, who cleared HS 2013 on Monday with 57 per cent in humanities.

Sayantan wants to do his graduation with honours in political science or Bengali. His aim: to become a teacher.

He is grateful to his friends and teachers who helped him “sail through” Higher Secondary in a school where he enjoyed no other advantage.

“I would listen to class lectures and my friends and teachers would give me photocopies of notes. My reader would read out the notes thrice a week so that I could record and memorise them,” he said.

Sayantan’s parents are proud of how their son coped with the challenge of shifting from a special school to one where he was in the midst of students with sight.

“We had feared that he would buckle under pressure. And what if his friends teased him? But he proved us wrong,” said father Subrata.

Anubhab Bhattacharyya

He cannot walk for more than one-and-a half-minutes at a stretch or raise his hands longer than 30 seconds. While writing his HS exams, he needed to take a break every few minutes.

Anubhab Bhattacharyya has mitochondrial myopathy, a medical condition that makes muscle tissues very weak. But this 18-year-old HS examinee from South Point High School has a mind so strong that he beat the odds to score 89.4 per cent in science.

“I would find the practical classes very hard, especially chemistry. The instruments are so delicate that I would be apprehensive of holding them, lest I drop and break one,” Anubhab said.

When the school elevator was out of order or there was a power cut, Anubhab would take 20 minutes to climb up to the fourth floor. But he never complained. “Why should I? One has to move ahead with what one can do rather than crib about what one cannot,” smiled the young man who aspires to be a doctor.

What message do you have for these bravehearts? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com