Help has started to pour in for wonder kid Sushma Verma who has secured admission to M.Sc. (microbiology) at Lucknow University at the age of 13. She holds the record for being the youngest to complete High School (class X) in India at the age of seven.

dna had highlighted her plight and achievements in its edition on Thursday last. Her achievements deserve even more kudos as she has done it despite extreme deprivation.

Her father Tej Bahadur is a daily wage labourer and is barely able to run the household. Lucknow University (LU) procter Prof Manoj Dixit told dna that famous lyricist Javed Akhtar had come forward to help Sushma financially. He has sent a message through people he knows in Lucknow, he said.

Interestingly, neither Sushma nor her father have heard of Javed Akhtar. Neither do they know his son Farhan Akhtar or wife Shabana Azmi.

Besides, Rafat Sarosh, who works for Microsoft at Seattle, and Abhijit Patil, a microbiology teacher who runs a charitable foundation in Kolhapur (Maharashtra), have also offered to help Sushma. In his email to the Lucknow University, Rafat has mentioned that his father, an LU product, had gone through some very tough time, and total strangers came up and helped him. He said that if Sushmas fees is taken care of, he would be willing to give her Rs5,000 per month for other expenses. He has also offered to give her a laptop.

Prof Manoj Dixit said some LU teachers had also offered to help, and the LU authorities were also considering granting her fees waiver and hostel facility. We plan to collect about Rs5 lakh which should take care of her entire M.Sc. course, he said.

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dna impact: Javed Akhtar offers help to UP wonder kid