This 21-year-old blind college student had already been through countless hardships when she went to the Radio City 91.1 station building last month – and she had no idea that winning a radio contest would end up changing her life.
Nikita Shukla is a third-year college student who has been studying to be a lawyer at Government Law College in Mumbai, India. Back in May, Nikita was one of the few lucky callers who received a prize for calling into the Mumbai Masala show.
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While the two were chatting, Nikita started sharing some tidbits about her life. Tyagi was so shocked by the student’s circumstances, she asked Nikita to go on the record.
Tyagi then started tweeting Nikita’s story to her 10,000 Twitter followers.
“Nikita is completely blind. Something her parents were not very excited about, and wanted to get her married right after high school,” writes Tyagi. “When Nikita refused and insisted on studying further, she was asked to leave the house.”
The host goes on to explain how Nikita was about to leave the city when her friends convinced her to stay in Mumbai and continue studying. Together, they were able to accumulate enough money for the student to stay at a hostel and go to school through small scholarships and donations from compassionate professors. Due to her tight financial situation, however, Nikita could only afford the meals that were provided for free through the hostel. This resulted in the youth only eating about 20 meals per month – all while scoring over 80% on her exams.
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When Tyagi started speaking about Nikita’s story on her show, hundreds of phone calls and emails poured in from listeners who wanted to donate. The financial contributions added up to thousands of dollars in donations.
“Not ONE person asked for proof, not ONE person said ‘but what if she runs away with my money?’ No, people just opened their hearts and gave,” says Tyagi. “We raised enough to cover her tuition, hostel and canteen fee. My girl can eat three meals a day now. And become a kickass lawyer!”
When presented with the money, Nikita couldn’t help but break down in tears.
“A single, blind girl who chose education over family, she couldn’t believe people willingly GAVE her their money,” Tyagi added. “Nikita Shukla, you star!”
Click To Share The Sweet Story With Your Friends (Photo by Sucharita Tyagi)