From Begging on The Streets to Becoming A Doctor, Read Pinki Haryan’s Remarkable Journey

Pinki Haryan was born into an impoverished family in a suburb of Dharamshala, called Mcleodganj in Himachal Pradesh. She and her parents begged on the streets and got food from garbage dumps to survive.

The girl was spotted by a benevolent Tibetan refugee monk named Lobsang Jamyang, who also happened to be the director of the Dharamshala-based charitable trust. When he visited the slum cluster at Charan Khud, he recognized the girl.

He convinced her parents to allow their daughter to pursue studies. Initially, Pinki Haryan’s father did not agree, however, after a great deal of persuasion, he gave in to Jamyang’s demands. Pinki was admitted into Dayanand Public School at Dharamshala, and was among the first batch admitted to the hostel, meant for destitute children set up by the trust.

Ajay Srivastava, president of NGO Umang Foundation, who has been associated with Jamyang for the last 19 years, said that initially Pinki missed her home and parents, although she soon realised that studies were the only way out of her poverty-stricken life.

She not only cleared the senior secondary examination but also cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). NEET is a nationwide entrance test for undergraduate medical programs. Pinki was unsuccessful in getting admitted to a private medical college due to the high fees. With the help of the Tong-Len Charitable Trust in the United Kingdom, she got admission to a prestigious medical college in China in 2018.

Today, Pinki has not only completed her medical course but she is also preparing for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) so that she will become eligible to practise medicine in India.

“Poverty was the biggest struggle since childhood. It was painful to see my family in distress. As I got into school, I had an ambition to become successful in life”, Haryan told PTI.

“As a child, I lived in a slum so my background was my biggest motivation. I wished for a good and financially stable life,” she further said.

Pinki Haryan's story is truly inspirational and exemplifies the power of hard work, diligence, and honesty in achieving our goals and dreams.

Kudos to monk Lobsang Jamyang, for helping Pinki achieve her dreams. Jamyang believes that children should not be treated as “machines to earn money”, instead, they should be encouraged to become good human beings first.