96.16% and counting

Lekha Muraleedharan, the topper among girls in the HSC exams, will rest only after she does well in her engineering entrance exams as well

Even as students who Lekha Muraleedharan had never spoken to accosted her in the college corridors and pumped her hand, there were a few frown lines on the forehead of this topper. "I'm awaiting my engineering entrance examination results now. It's really important to do well," said the shy 17-year-old who topped the state HSC exam among girls. The results were declared yesterday morning.



Lekha scored 96.16 per cent in the vocational stream, placing her at the very top of the charts. "I'm a bit surprised. I thought I'd do well, but I didn't expect this!" said the D G Ruparel college student.

Her uncle and guardian Rajesh Makhija chalks it all up to his niece's temperament. "She never panicks or gets stressed. Her track record's been excellent. She topped at her school and now we're just going to support her in whatever she chooses to do," he said.u00a0

For now, Lekha's basking in her new found celebrity status. "There are people who I don't even know who've stopped and congratulated me. It's such a nice feeling," she said.