Lakhimpur Kheri's pride no bookworm, TV soaps were glue

LAKHIMPUR KHERI: Three shelves full of shields and awards for debating, speech competitions and even art and craft competitions adorn the wall-to-wall cupboard in the home of ISC all-India topper Lipika Agarwal.
The 18-year-old from Lakhimpur Kheri, a small town 130km from Lucknow, has been busy receiving congratulatory messages for her impeccable 99.5% in her class XII boards since results were declared on Monday afternoon.
Lipika, though, is far from being a bookworm.
Throughout her exams, the all-rounder did not miss a single episode of her favourite comedy TV soaps. Besides, she also found time for her passion of nail art and slept for eight hours at night.
"I have a collection of dozens of nail paints. As and when I got time, I watched videos on nail art and practised them on my fingers or my mother's," said Lipika.
One who has never taken coaching classes, Lipika has been a consistent performer. In her class X exam, she topped the district with 97.8%.
"If you are focussed on something, like I was on studies, limited hours can get great results. I had not expected 99.5% though," said the girl, who also loves to read. With 100 in physics, chemistry, biology, computers and a 98 in English, Lipika aims to be a doctor.
On the cupboards of her room, physics numericals, chemistry equations and biology facts are scribbled neatly.
"I have written these on walls and cupboards so that I can look at them any time and memorise them," she said.
Lipika's elated family-father Deepak Agarwal, mother Shanu and elder brother Harshvardhan-has been receiving guests since Monday to celebrate her success.
An engineering student at the prestigious BITS Pilani, Harshvardhan has also been a bright student.
"We never pushed our children towards studies or getting marks. Lipika has been doing her best and we will do our best in giving her what she deserves. We are proud of both of them," said Deepak, who has a plywood business.
"We all had confidence in Lipika and her confidence reflected in all her home examination results. She would send queries to teachers and they would resolve them," said the principal of Lucknow Public School Arvind Verma.
Lipika's favourite is her computer teacher Vijay Sachdeva, who said, "She is intelligent. Many times, she would give her own logical reasoning for certain computer programmes. She was also active in extra-curricular activities."