EARLY YEARS, SUPPORT FROM PARENTS

When she could not run and walk like other kids in her school at Lyallpur in undivided Punjab (today Faisalabad, Pakistan), she felt rejected. But quickly, she resolved to turn that rejection into her strength. At age 7 she attended the Sacred Heart Convent High School in Lyallpur, an institution where the Nuns were extremely supporting, even putting in place a special commode for the child. She recalls having danced at a concert in spite of her obvious handicap.

Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Indeed Deepi Singh’s future was shaped by her own beautiful ones. Even though her parents may have wanted her to become a doctor, Deepi Singh decided she would be more comfortable studying Home Science. She graduated from Delhi’s Lady Irwin College with Bachelor of Science and then added a Bachelor of Education degree to her resume.

The last degree would allow her to teach, a vocation which comes naturally to her. She taught at the Lady Irwin School in Delhi. During this period she also underwent a bone grafting surgery which helped her to walk more freely. “Earlier I used to travel in buses with crutches,” she recalls. Following the surgery, the crutches were abandoned for good.