The child prodigy Sushma Verma

The child prodigy Sushma Verma who cleared high school at the age of 7 is all set to pursue post graduation in Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Microbiology from Lucknow University at the age of 13!

 Sushma, who is the daughter of Tej Bahadur Verma, a daily wage labourer has beaten all odds in pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. After achieving the title of "youngest Indian" to pass the Class 10 at the age of 7, Sushama's name is mentioned in the Limca Book of Records. 

When she was 10 years old, she took the Combined Pre Medical Test. At 13, when average students are in Class 7, Sushma has come a long way as compared to her counterparts. Presently, Sushma lives in a small room with also includes kitchen in Lucknow. She told a newspaper, "I am happy with what we have. Of course, I too want a lot of things. But I thank god for giving me the gift of learning." But Sushma is now worried about her age. "

After MSc I will not be able to sit for CPMT because of my age. So, I will do a PhD", she said. 13-yr-old has beaten all odds to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She also said, "I miss a better atmosphere, a better neighbourhood. But then, there are a lot of dreams... all of them cannot be fulfilled."

 Not only Sushma, even her brother 20-year-old brother Shailendra was also a child prodigy who cleared Class 10 at the age of nine. Sushma gives all the credit for her success to her brother. Unlike other children of her age who have an easy access to mobile phones, internet, colour cable TV, this genius stands apart from those children.

The 13-year-old child prodigy Sushma Verma of Lucknow on Tuesday got a call from the vice-chancellor of BS Abdur Rehman University, Chennai offering her free education. Also, sociologist and founder of Sulabh International, pioneer in the field of sanitation and hygiene, Bindeshwar Pathak announced an amount of Rs 5 lakh for Sushma. Pathak will visit Sushma's home to hand over the cheque next week.

Congratulating the little genius, Pathak said, "The girl is an inspiration for students belonging to elite background. With the prize money, Sushma can fulfill her requirements. We will extend all support to the child further too.''

"Although I don't want to talk about it at the moment because I want my daughter to concentrate on her education and stop thinking about other things, it is true that some members of the Bollywood have shown interest in her career and want to finance it. 

"Right from her education to hostel fees, they have been assessing her needs", Verma said. 

Prof Manoj Dixit, proctor of LU said: "We have also received offer from Abhishek Patil of SKF Foundation, Kolhapur to finance her education. The university is also ready to waive her hostel fees."

Sushma initially wanted to do MBBS. But she couldn't appear in the test before reaching the age of 17. 

So she decided to change her mind and opted for higher education. 

Sushma's elder brother Shailendra is equally brilliant. He cleared Class 10 from National Open School at the age of seven with 55 per cent marks.

He earned his bachelor degree in computer application from LU at the age of 14 with 75 per cent marks and is currently pursuing MSc in computers from St. John College in Bangalore.

 

 

Bright future: Sushma Verma (right) with her father Tej Bahadur (left) at Lucknow University where she is pursuing an MSc in Biotechnology
An article Published in The Hindu dated 4th September 2013 about her is given below

“Sushma’s future is secure as far as her studies are concerned”

Nobody will grudge the accolades earned by Lucknow’s child prodigy, Sushma Verma, and the offer of financial help from individuals and organisations for pursuing her studies. As the 13-year-old wonder kid basks in the glory of becoming the youngest student to pursue a Master’s course — M.Sc. in Microbiology from Lucknow University — it’s raining funds for her. 

After noted film lyricist and one with a strong “Lakhnavi” connection, Javed Akhtar; a U.S.-based executive working with the Microsoft Corporation; and a Kolhapur-based charitable organisation, SKA Foundation, offered financial assistance to her, financial help for Ms. Verma has now come from Sulabh International.

The NGO has decided to adopt the child prodigy and will provide all possible assistance to her for pursuing higher studies. “The founder of Sulabh Sanitation movement, Bindeshwari Pathak, will honour Sushma Verma with a cash reward of Rs. 5 lakh when he visits Lucknow next week,” said Manoj Jha, adviser to Sulabh International. She had been described as a great motivator for children by the Sulabh founder, Mr. Jha added.

“Assistance has also been offered by Sunny Fernandez from Kuwait, Pradeep Agarwal from Goldrush, Lucknow; Shubodeep Kundu from Kolkata and Dr. Vinayak Prasad from the World Health Organisation for further studies. Sushma’s future is absolutely secure as far as her studies are concerned,” Manoj Dixit, Chief Proctor of Lucknow University, told The Hindu.

A tough road

Times have been hard for the Verma family. Sushma Verma’s father, Tej Bahadur, is a daily wage labourer and it was difficult for him to meet the expenses for her admission to Lucknow University. He had to sell one bigha of land to pay the first instalment of about Rs. 25,000 to confirm a seat in the university. The child prodigy’s name appeared in the second cut-off merit list for postgraduate courses declared on August 26. The family used to live in a dingy single room accommodation in St. Meera’s Inter College on Kanpur road, but they were asked to vacate the premises about two months ago.

 Ms. Verma now lives with her parents in a single room in Bargawan village.

Professor Manoj Dixit said the university was arranging for a suitable accommodation where the girl could live with her parents. He said the parents and the girl herself were not inclined to her living in a hostel along with students of a different age group. Ms. Verma passed her Class 10 (High School) examination from St. Meera’s College at the age of 7 and Intermediate at the age of 10. She pursued B.Sc. in Zoology and Botany from CMS Degree College. 

Her brother Shailendra holds the distinction of being the youngest Computer Science graduate at the age of 14.

Age no bar for Learning-C.Aravindhavalli(age 73) finished PhD

Dr.C. Aravindhavalli

Ms.C. Aravindhavalli’s  has just finished her PhD when she is 73 years old.

Her research is on the music of Thirumangai Alvar, the last of the 12 Alvar saints of south India, who are known for their affiliation to the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism.

Ms. Aravindhavalli, a resident of Triplicane, said, “I married when I was in class IX, and was part of a large, joint family. For many years, I was completely immersed in daily chores.”

Six years ago, when she began to think about re-entering the world of academia, it was not easy. She had completed B.A. in music then. “I had grandchildren to look after and I did not know how it would seem if I attended classes at that age. But then my granddaughter sent me notebooks from Mumbai to encourage me, and I decided to go ahead,” she said.

The septuagenarian attended classes regularly at Queen Mary’s College and finished her M.A. in Vaishnavism. Her guide, K. R. Seethalakshmi, principal, Quaid-E- Millath College for Women recalls, “Her husband came and requested me to convince her to start studying again. But it was easy to get her started as she knew she wanted to focus on the music aspect of the Alvars.”

But then in 2008, Ms. Aravindhavalli’s husband, an LIC agent, passed away, just as she was thinking about beginning her PhD. “It was very difficult convincing her to focus on clearing her registration exam — important because she didn’t have an M.Phil. But she is very hardworking and sincere,” said Prof. Seethalakshmi.

“This has not only helped me overcome my husband’s death but has also made me feel closer to god,” she said.

Aravindhavalli had to give veena recitals as practical performances to finish her PhD. “When I was very young, my mother told me once, never to stop playing the Veena. I am glad I listened to her.”

Her PhD, she said, was a tribute to her father who was a Tamil professor. “This year is his 101st birth anniversary. He has guided many students into finishing their studies. He would be proud of me today.”

“He was a very learned person who also had a very interesting, colourful life. Knowing about the Bhakti cult of that time was like meditation as our family believes follows all vaishnavite traditions, and it made me understand my daily rituals better,” she adds.

She is all set to celebrate it with her grandchildren who are in their twenties.

“They are studying in the US. They are coming here to be with me, to celebrate the fact that their paati has a doctorate now,” she laughed.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/73-yearold-to-get-phd-from-madras-university/article5029862.ece?homepage=true

Dumbest Financial Blunders

 There are many incidents where losses in Financial transactions happen due to some blunders which could have been avoided.

Here are 8 such interesting cases where Financial blunders have occurred due to avoidable mistakes, negligence and ignorance:

1. Banker Falls Asleep on His Keyboard - Transfers $293M

 

Instead of catching some Zs, he lost some $. An unnamed German employee of an unnamed German bank made worldwide headlines when he accidentally transferred 222,222,222.22 Euros ($293 Million) instead of 62.40. What was his reason? He claims that he fell asleep for an instant†while typing the number 2, resulting in the colossal blunder. But it was his supervisor who was reprimanded and sacked. However, the error was quickly corrected, the supervisor eventually got her job back, and hopefully the employee got some rest.

 

2. Woman Throws Away $1 Million Lottery Ticket

 

This is Sharon Jones, who "found" the ticket.

 

Here's a strange story for our Financial Blunder list, and one that has a happy ending. Sharon Duncan purchased a Diamond Dazzler lottery ticket at the Super 1 Stop in the tiny town of Beeb, Arkansas in July 2011. When she scanned it, it did not come up as a winner, and she tossed it in the bin below. Along came Sharon Jones, who combed through the trash, found the discarded ticket, and discovered that it was indeed a $1 million dollar winner. Elated, Jones spent a lot of the money on herself and her children, only to be brought to court by the convenience store manager, who claimed Jones took the ticket from the bin that had a sign saying 'Do Not Take' When Duncan got wind of it, she joined the suit, claiming that she was misled by the scanner reading and deserved the winnings. A judge and jury debated the matter and returned the decision in Duncan's favor, meaning that Jones would have to return the money she spent. Jones appealed, but before the case could go back to the courts the parties settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

 

3. PayPal Accidentally Puts $92 Quadrillion in a Man's Account

 

"We regret to inform you of our grievous error."

 

Pennsylvania resident Chris Reynolds opened his monthly PayPal statement in his email to find a balance of $92,233,720,368,547,800. He was stunned, and posted a photo of the document for his friends to see on Facebook. But before he could go on a spending spree, PayPal recognized their error and took back the gargantuan sum. As a kind gesture, the company made a modest donation to an undisclosed charity of Reynolds' choice.

 

4. Fed Spends $120 Million Due to a Printing Glitch

 

Talk about a printer jam; It turns out there was a problem with the new $100 bills that were being printed by the US Treasury... a $120 million dollar problem. Originally scheduled to be issued in 2011, these new high-security C-Notes were announced with big fanfare. However, as the the first billion notes rolled off the presses, it was discovered that sporadic creasing of the paper had caused a small sliver on some of the bills to be printed incorrectly. This glitch caused a 2-year delay in the release of the new bills as they sorted the good from the bad, costing $120 million extra... at the US taxpayers' expense, of course!

 

5. 12-Year-Old Misspells a Word on Jeopardy! and Loses $3000

 

Alex Trebek said it was "badly misspelled."

 

It seems like a pretty innocent mistake, given the age and the circumstances. Nonetheless, Thomas Hurley III's misspelled answer for Final Jeopardy! cost him the $3000 wager. The correct written response to the answer was What is the Emancipation Proclamation? (Jeopardy! contestants must guess the correct question), but Hurley spelled it Emanciptation Proclamation [sic] and host Alex Trebek and the show judges deemed it incorrect. ABC producers responded to the decision by saying, "If Jeopardy! were to give credit for an incorrect response (however minor), the show would effectively penalize the other players. Still, that doesn't sit well with a lot of people who felt Trebek and company cheated a little boy out of his hard-earned cash.

 

6. Bank of America Glitch Allows a Gambler to Withdraw (and Lose) $1.5 Million

 

In a situation similar to a drug addict being allowed unlimited access to crack cocaine, retired Flint Michigan autoworker Ronald Paige discovered that he was able to withdraw vast sums of money from Bank of America ATMs. For 14 days, Paige was able to withdraw - and subsequently gamble away - the bank's money due to a glitch in their ATMs at several casinos in the area. During his almost non-stop spree (he went 36 hours without sleep) he had withdrawn $1,543,100. Paige was completely apologetic. Nonetheless, he was sentenced to 15 days in prison and ordered to repay the $1.5 million in installments from his $2000 monthly pension.

 

7. Woman Sells a $20 Jacket with $18,000 Diamond Earrings in the Pocket

 

This is Dori Rhodes before her $18k mistake.

 

Talk about regrets... Huntington Beach resident Dori Rhodes donated items to a community yard sale on May 18, 2013, thinking she was getting rid of things she no longer used or needed. Well, it turns out that one of the items she gave them - a denim jacket that sold for $20 - had a couple of extra surprises in the pockets. She forgot that she used the old denim jacket, which hung in the back of her closet, as a de-facto safe to keep valuables and money. Not only was there a pair of $18,000 diamond earrings, but there was also a $1500 ring that her husband had given her. Of course, she is devastated by the error, and is hoping that the stranger who purchased the jacket returns the valuable items. So far, she's had no luck.

 

8. Woman Loses 1400 British Pounds by Entering the Wrong Digit

 

It may seem like a small amount of money (@$2200 US), but it underscores a common problem in the banking industry. Inadvertent mistakes by people using online banking can lead to financial pain. In this particular case, a woman from South Wales attempted to move 100,000 Pounds from one Nationwide Bank account to another, and mistakenly typed in one wrong digit of her 8-digit account. When the money didn't show up a few days later, she contacted the bank and was eventually able to recover 98,600 of it, but 1,400 was deemed irretrievable because it would push the other customer into their overdraft, according to the Mail UK. The larger problem is exposed and discussed in a lengthy article, which estimates that millions of pounds are lost every year in similar mishaps. 

Bottom line: 

Be careful what you type when transferring your money.