Kozhikode: Most people have experienced defeat at some point in life. But Arya is moving forward with victories from a point where everyone thought she would never succeed. If self-confidence needed a name, it could well be Arya.

Doctors realised when she was just 3 months old that Arya had cerebral palsy and impaired mobility. She needed someone behind her to stand upright. Her parents, father Rajeev and mother Pushpaja, became her constant support.

Arya has now completed her postgraduate degree with high marks from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram. Even as she returns home to Athanikkal, her confidence is backed by the unwavering support of her parents.

At 3, Arya could neither sit nor speak. She underwent continuous physiotherapy and speech therapy. Her father gave up his job as a civil engineer to stay with his daughter full-time. At 4, she began sitting up, and by 5 years, she could speak, though indistinctly.

She was admitted to a playschool at Chungam in West Hill. “But some parents created problems, saying their children might also fall ill. We had to leave the school with our daughter,” her father Rajeev recalls.

At the age of 6, Arya joined Chungam Government UP School. By then, she had slowly started walking.

Her father and mother used to take her to school on their motorcycle, with Arya seated between them. “After dropping her off in class, I would stay around either inside or outside the school. Her mother, who was an engineer with the PWD, would come at noon, take care of everything Arya needed and then leave,” Rajeev recalls.

Arya first stunned everyone by becoming the first student in the history of her school to secure Lower Secondary Scholarship (LSS). In Class 5, she joined Nadakkavu GVHSS and later secured the Upper Secondary Scholarship (USS). She scored A+ in all subjects in Class 10, securing full marks. She also scored full marks in Plus Two from St Michael’s, West Hill.

She gained admission to the integrated BS-MS postgraduate programme at IISER through entrance examination. Her parents obtained transfers and moved with her.

Even now, Arya cannot write quickly. She does everything on a computer. She used a scribe to write her examinations. She also needs assistance with almost everything, including eating.

Her next goal is to pursue research on exoplanets in astrobiology. There are limited facilities for such research in India. Arya is now waiting to take the necessary examinations and fly abroad to pursue her dream.