‘Crorepati’ woman lacked money to study medicine

GIRIDIH - A 37-year-old homemaker from a humble family here who is the first woman to win one crore rupees in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” gave up her dream of becoming a doctor because her family did not have the money to educate her.

No wonder, Rahat Taslim is insistent that she will use her whopping prize money to provide “good education” to her two children — so that they lead a better life.

Taslim won Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) in the fourth edition of the hugely popular KBC quiz show that will be telecast Monday.

According to Sabina Taslim, her grandmother, Rahat, who originally belonged to Ranchi, was married into a family in Jharkhand’s Giridih district when she was only 13 years old.

Her parents live in the Muslim-dominated Hindpiri colony of Ranchi. Her father is small businessman.

Rahat badly wanted to be a doctor. She was intelligent too but she could not pursue her dreams to become a doctor “due to paucity of money”, the grandmother said.

“We feel great that her talent has been recognized,” she said.

For someone who spent much of her life facing endless hardships and completed her graduation only after marriage, Rahat is clear that her two children should do well academically.

Her son Faisal Iqbal is 10-year-old and daughter Tarannum Taslim is three years younger. Her husband Imtiyaz Ahmad works with the Mica Trading Corp of India on a salary of Rs.6,000.

To help the family, which resides in Gaddi Muhalla in Giridih, Rahat used to sew clothes and earn about Rs.2,000 extra.

She said now that she has won a ‘crore’ (Rs.10 million), “I will spend the money on providing good education to my children.”

Speaking in a voice choked with emotion over telephone from Mumbai and at least once breaking down, Rahat recalled her unhappy childhood.

“My mother considered herself unlucky as she gave birth to a girl child. But now she would be feeling proud about me,” she said.

Does Rahat have any ambition of her own?

“You know, now that I am a celebrity, I am getting offers from several companies to become the brand ambassador for their products,” Rahat told IANS.

But “I want to become a teacher. The qualification age to be a teacher is over. If the Jharkhand government provides me a teaching job, I would like to teach and share knowledge with pupils.”

Rahat, who does not regret the early hardships, added: “I have no regrets in life. But now I want to do something more meaningful in life.

“I came to Mumbai to play the game and I did it with confidence. I think Allah wanted to give me the money and from Amitabh Bachchan, so I got it.”