Job offers pour in for daughter of autorickshaw driver

Prema Jaykumar, the 24-year-old daughter of an autorickshaw driver who ranked first in the national level CA exam, wants to start a firm with her brother. However, for now, she is all excited to enter the corporate world to make contacts and get experience.

For a couple of days, following the celebrations, she has had little time to answer her phone and is afraid she may have missed some job offers, which started coming in soon after the result.

Prema’s one-room residence in a chawl in Malad (East) has been crowded with guests and media persons since the result. She scored 607 out of 800.

“My parents have been really supportive. We are successful today because of them. They never complained about money crunch or asked me or my brother to compromise on our academic aspirations,” she said.

The family hails from Tamil Nadu and is settled in Mumbai for the last many years. Jaykumar Perumal, Prema’s father, has been driving a rickshaw for the past 20 years and her mother is a homemaker. “My mother never let me work at home so that I could concentrate on my studies,” she said.

Crediting her parents and faculties for the success, she said she’s happier because her brother Dhanraj, 22, too cleared the exam. “Our only aim now is to provide a life of comfort to our parents who have been struggling for us so far,” said Dhanraj.

But Jaykumar Perumal wants to keep driving the rickshaw. “We are happy and proud of our kids but one must continue working until one can,” said Jaykumar who has studied only till Std V. Recalling how he had sold his land at his native place and taken a loan on the rickshaw twice, he said, “My kids have proved that all those efforts were worth it.”