Kochi/ Thrissur: Ann Rose Mathew and Sreelakshmi Haridos have made the Keralites proud by securing admission to the National Defence Academy in its first batch for women. Among the 1.75 lakh women who wrote the national-level entrance test, only 19 were eligible. Among them, Ann grabbed the 7th rank Sreelekshmi got the 12th rank.
She hails from Payyambili in Mananthavady and her father is Commander Mathew P Mathew of the Indian Navy. “It was always a dream for me to get into defense. So when I came to know of this opportunity, I immediately applied,“ she says.
Her mother Beena was a teacher at the Government Teachers Training College at Edappally in Ernakulam. However, Beena is no more to see her daughter achieve her dream. Ann Rose got selected to NDA almost three months after Beena died of cancer. “I had prepared for my engineering entrance and that helped with the NDA exam. I am glad that I took the first step towards achieving both our dreams,“ she adds.
Meanwhile, Sreelekshmi is the daughter of retired Merchant Navy engineer Haridos Bhaskaran and Jyoti Puthumana, both natives of Ayyanthol in Trichur. Sreelekshmi completed her Class-12 from Kulapathi Bhavans Vidya Mandir at Pottor. “I started preparing for the written exam just 10 days before the test. I relied on YouTube for most of it. I could not believe the result first. Now I am grateful and happy,” she says.