It was a quiet evening at the hospital in Ranchi when two sisters clutched their mother’s frail hands. Sixteen-year-old Rupam Sonali held her mother’s face gently, her eyes brimming with tears she refused to shed. Moments later, their world changed forever.

For Rupam and her elder sister Rupali, life would never be the same again. Their father had passed when Rupam was just 11, and now, within a week of being diagnosed with blood cancer, their mother too was gone.

“Relatives, instead of offering support, distanced themselves. We were only two daughters, and society was cruel,” Rupam recalls. “They told us we had no future, that we were helpless without parents.”

Yet in that moment of loss and abandonment, Rupam found the spark of a promise — to her mother, and to herself: I will do something big in life.

Today, at just 22, she has kept that promise by clearing the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Civil Services Examination in her first attempt, without coaching, without guidance, and against all odds.

The long road to education

After losing their parents, Rupam and her sister resolved to fight back instead of succumbing to despair. Finances were tight, and emotional support was absent.

Her sister, Rupali, says, “When our mother passed away, it was a tense and uncertain period for us. As the elder sister, I felt responsible, but Roopam too carried herself with remarkable strength. Mum always told us to never lose hope and to find something positive even in the worst of times.........

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