A remarkable story of perseverance and triumph has emerged from Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district where a woman defied grovelling poverty and adversity to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry. The woman toiled for six years to get her degree while she worked as a daily wage labourer on an agricultural farm, navigating a life of deprivation, with just a broken asbestos sheet for the roof of her house. Dr Sake Bharathi is the eldest of her three sisters. Her father's disappointment over having only daughters and his subsequent mistreatment led Dr Bharathi's grandfather to intervene. Her grandfather took her in and encouraged her to continue her studies.