Chennai: Noodle master's daughter aces class 10

Chennai: Wednesday was different for Kamal Hassan, a Chinese food master working in a fast food joint in Adambakkam. A smile adorns his face as he agrees to a five minute break from relentlessly juggling between fried rice and noodles.

"I feel very proud about her. I have to admit I am a bit surprised she didn't come in first," says Hassan, about his 15-year-old daughter Mazvin Roshan, whose 489 marks took her to second among 6,273 students from Corporation schools to have cleared Class 10 board examination.

Hassan's dream is simple. It is to provide his daughter with the one thing that eluded him in his younger days. "I could not study beyond Class five. I had no skills. I started out as a help and learnt cooking skills after spending ten years at this food joint. I am prepared to spend whatever I earn to fulfill my daughter's dreams," he added.

The orders keep coming in and Hassan bids farewell. But neither him nor the parents of the other top ranked candidates had a bad thing to say about their wards' respective schools.

For instance, Adi Ram Kumar, who works as an engineer for a prominent luxury hotel in Chennai, decided it was best if his daughter A. Sindhiya studied in a corporation school as, according to him, the local body's schools had the "best facilities and qualified teachers."

Sindhiya, representing the Market street school in Perambur, secured 488 marks. "A studious child will learn anywhere," was the response from Sakthivel, the father of S. Bhuvaneswari, the joint-topper with 492 marks.

He is thankful that the Corporation took care of every single need of his daughter, namely books, uniform etc. "Actually, I ended up paying more for her tuition. I paid Rs 800 a month for that," said Sakthivel, who is employed with a prominent jewel trading firm in T Nagar as a sales executive.