Tales of life's real winners

Every year NDTV brings to you reports on some of the CBSE or ISCE toppers. But this is a story of some toppers with a difference. Of kids who fought off their disabilities to emerge among the best of the best.

Anuj Goel has a genetic eye order. Words jumble up before his eyes. ''I cannot even read the black board though I sit in the front row,'' he says.  But that didn't stop this 17-year-old from scoring 96.6% in his school finals.

''I met this other girl who was in SRCC, and who had scored well. She also had a problem similar to mine. After meeting her I felt confident that even I could do it."

Anuj's score is just 2% short of the all-India CBSE topper. That is regardless of the fact that he is a topper in his own right in the differently-abled category.

Half an hour away in south Delhi, another battle was hard fought and won.

Seventeen-year-old Madhuri Kumari lives in a slum. She shares her cramped home with six family members. Kumari's father, a daily wage labourer, is the only earning member. Certainly, no question there of tuitions or extra help.

It was a struggle that is not evident in her report card, which flashes a mighty 83%

"I am lucky to have such parents. Girls with my background don't get education. I am the first girl in my family to be educated,'' she says.

These are stories of triumph that go beyond report cards. These are tales of life's real winners.