“I want to become an air hostess,” said Komal, who lives near the airport and counts every plane that flies above her house in the Transport Nagar area.

Now, as the first beneficiary of Chief Minister Mayawati’s Savitri Bai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojna, Komal wants to use the money to become an air hostess and the cycle as her “vehicle” to achieve the dream. “Cycle se school jayenge aur uske baad coaching centre me English bolna sikhengein (I will go to school on this cycle and then learn to speak English at a coaching centre),” she said.

A student of Class XI in Singar Nagar’s Government Girls Inter College, from now on, Komal will not have to walk four kilometres to reach her school. “When I will reach school on this cycle tomorrow, everybody will be there to greet me,” she said, revealing her Principal Chamta Rawat’s desire to get a group photograph with her.

Daughter of Krishna Lal, who takes up private assignments related with construction work to feed his family of six, Komal plans to use the money only after she completes her Intermediate and joins an air hostess training course. “She is the darling of both her brothers. They used to tease her when she would express her desire to become an air hostess. But after she was selected for the scheme, they have started taking her seriously, assuming that God is helping her,” said Lal.

The family lives in a thatched house. “For these children, this is the study-cum-drawing room,” said Lal, indicating the only room which has pucca cement walls. Their only luxury item, a portable television set, has been placed there. “It is through television that Komal got to know that she could be an air hostess too,” said Rekha Rani, her mother.

While Komal’s elder brother is a student of Class XII, the youngest is a student of Class IX.