Byline: Abhay Singh

PATNA: It is the case of a small town and family hitting big. Traditionally, famous as an important foodgrain market and populated mainly by the insular people of business community, the house of retired fourth grade employee Shyam Sunder Sah has, of late, become a

On the contrary, the Sah family has got a new pride in the person of Lalita Kumari alias Lali, who has succeeded to find a place in the recently published merit list of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examinations. She is the daughter of Sah, and stands 367 in the merit list.

It is not clear if she would get the IAS or allied services slot. But that is not important at the moment. "I am here in Patna, but I am getting the news that people of our small town are visiting my family there at Kasba,"said Lali's jubilant cousin Dhruv here on Friday, adding: "You can understand the pride of her father. He pushed and prodded and also supported her to pursue the studies. None had imagined that our Lali could go that far."

As he said, the phones of anyone familiar with the Sah family have been ringing day and night for the last few days. The Kasba town is around 18 km from the district and divisional headquarters of Purnia. It is located on the four-lane national highway that passes through Araria, near the Indo-Nepal border. Lali is likely to visit Kasba on May 27 and the locals have planned a roadshow for her there.

The Kasba Bazaar, otherwise, has been famous for the Purandevi Mandir close to it, and also the Raani Sati Mandir that a few families of the Marwari business community who came to settle had built it. Yet, the entire zone, lying close to the foothills of the Himalayas and plagued by marshes, malarial fever, tigers and pythons, once used to be the hunting ground for the elephant riding colonial masters and famous zamindars.

In the altered circumstances, one could say that Sah inspired his daughter to go hunting for the big of a different kind, since he saw it coming early. Lali got selected for Standard VI in Navodaya Vidyalaya. Then, she secured 82 per cent marks in the CBSE. She followed it by completing graduation course in veterinary science from Madras Veterinary College (Tamil Nadu), and also got Master degree from Hissar in Haryana.

Her career zoomed up, when Bal Bhawan Society India, Delhi, selected her for 20-day Saarc telescopic training. She was the Bihari girl representing the country among the Saarc nations.

"Her father helped her in pursuing her dream in whatever form it came. Now she has given the moment of pride to our family,"Dhruv said.X