Aishwarya Aided Others, But Remained Helpless Herself: LSR Peers

Aishwarya’s friends say she was a helpful person, who never discussed the dire financial condition of her family.

“For two days, I kept on telling myself that it must be a dream and that Aishwarya must be alive,” recounts Lady Shri Ram College student Aparna (name changed), as she comes to terms with the untimely demise of her dear friend. A second-year student of Mathematics, Aishwarya Reddy was pushed against the wall by her family’s worsening economic condition during the lockdown.

Crushed under the burden of a pending scholarship and asked to vacate the only hostel accommodation that she could afford in Delhi, the 18-year-old resident of Telangana’s Ranga Reddy District died by suicide on 2 November.

The Unspoken Distress

But while many an LSR peer knew that Aishwarya hailed from an economically weak background, no one had an inkling of the massive economic doldrum that the coronavirus lockdown had forced her family into.

Aparna goes on to say that if one were to interact with Aishwarya, she would never let anyone know that back home, serious problems exist. “She was always happy, always ready to help. In fact, she would always muster up support for some NGO or the other in their donation drives for the underprivileged.”

But even as she ensured donations for the needy, she had kept quiet about the fact that parents had mortgaged their house and then threw in some gold, all to fund her education in Delhi, she said.

The Human Alarm

Aishwarya had ranked second in Telangana board exams and was a hard-working student at LSR. Her friend Sehmat (name changed) recounts how “Aishwarya was always very particular about her assignments and submissions. But this doesn’t mean that she was missing out on other activities.”

Often, Aishwarya and Sehmat would study late into the night and the latter would not wake up on time for her morning prayers.

“But Aishwarya would ensure that I wake up and say ‘Sehmat, go finish your prayer and then sleep’. She was so tolerant of everyone around her.”

Sehmat, Aishwarya’s friend.

Sehmat remembers how Aishwarya worked really hard, aiming to crack the IAS and become a civil servant. But her own studies never came in the way of helping Sehmat in subjects or areas where she was weak.

Her Poverty, a Secret Till Her Last Moment

So conscious was Aishwarya of her image, that she had not shared details of her distress with one of her closest of friends, who had visited her just two days back she had taken her own life.

Lakshmi (name changed) , the friend, says that she was aware that Aishwarya’s mother worked as a tailor and her father as a mechanic, but what she was completely unaware that the family had stopped the education of Aishwarya’s younger sister, just so she could fulfil her dreams.

While Aishwarya’s family had to loan her education out, many of her friends wondered if she could ever afford private hostel accommodation in Delhi.

The LSR hostel she was staying at, had to be vacated at the end of her first year – a new rule that was declared by the college in 2019, prior to fresh admissions.

According to her parents, Aishwarya had told them that she would have to vacate her hostel and would need around Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 to travel to Delhi and make alternate arrangements. Already cash-trapped, her parents couldn’t even afford her ticket to Delhi. 

Meanwhile, the college union has claimed that LSR went ahead with converting the hostel for first-years only, despite demands that it be retained for all three years, as was the norm prior to 2019.

“If a student wants to find a private hostel or PG near the college, she has to shell out Rs 20,000 to 30,000 every month, whereas the LSR hostel fee was only about Rs 60,000 per year. How can a poor student like Aishwarya afford it? ” Asked Unnimaya, the General Secretary of LSR Students’ Union.