In many cultures, especially India, elders often say that if a person achieves great success or attains some impressive rank then that will surely get them lots of praise and respect in society.
For young children, this is often given as an example to study hard and get good marks, since if one doesn’t then that would mean ridicule and teasing from others around them. So then what was the reason for the insensitive trolling of the girl who topped the Uttar Pradesh state board exams of 2024?
Prachi Nigam topped the UP Board Class 10 exams securing an impressive 98.5% mark. However, instead of focusing on this achievement of topping in one of India’s largest states, people online chose to focus on her physical appearance and trolled her for it.
The student’s reply to this, though, is something to take strength and inspiration from.
What Did The Student Say?
When 15-year-old Prachi Nigam topped the 10th standard UP Board exams, her photo was posted in several reports talking about it. Netizens on several different social media platforms however, chose to focus on her physical features and mocked her for it, this included many men and some women too.
While some of those trolling her said how she should focus on grooming, others poked at her facial hair, bad hygiene, PCOS, insensitively objectifying a mere teenage student who had done nothing to warrant such comments.
Prachi speaking with BBC News Hindi was asked to comment on what was happening and she said “If I had obtained a few fewer marks, I would not have topped. Maybe that would have been better. I don’t care much about the situation because I have been facing this for a long time. People see girls with hair and feel weird about it because they have not seen this before.”
Read More: Growing Troll Rate Shows The Emotional And Reactive Behavior Of Online Crowd Worldwide
It is truly a shame and a mark on our society that an event that should have been the happiest and proudest moment of any student’s life has gotten tainted for this young student in such a way.
However, even in the middle of such trolling, Prachi gave a very empowering and inspiring reply “God has made me, I am okay with it. For those who feel there is a difference, it doesn’t matter. Even Chanakya was trolled, and he did not care. Similarly, I also don’t care and will focus on my studies.”
Nigam also told IANS “My family, my teachers, my friends never criticised me for my appearance and I never bothered about it either. It was only when my photograph was published after the results that people started trolling me and then my attention was drawn to the problem. My aim is to become an engineer and what will ultimately matter are my marks and not the hair on my face.”
Her mother said “When people trolled her, I felt bad about it. Many people said bad things about her. We told Prachi not to let it weigh on her mind,” and added, “I encouraged my daughter to ignore the trolls, and to my surprise, many social media users even supported my daughter after a couple of days”.
Her father Chandra Prakash Nigam, also commented on what happened “There are all kinds of people in society. We naturally felt bad, but at the same time, we are proud of our daughter for scoring the highest marks.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Indian Express, Firstpost, Livemint
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Prachi nigam, Prachi nigam up topper, Prachi nigam bombay shaving, Prachi nigam trolling, Prachi nigam topper, trolling, online trolling, trolls
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, or copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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