This story is from September 14, 2019

Lucknow: How daddy’s little girl is turning dreams into reality

Behind every successful daughter is one truly amazing dad. Seventeen-year-old Chanchal, a candidate at the Military Police recruitment rally here on Friday, will vouch for it.
Lucknow: How daddy’s little girl is turning dreams into reality
Officials brief candidates
LUCKNOW: Behind every successful daughter is one truly amazing dad. Seventeen-year-old Chanchal, a candidate at the Military Police recruitment rally here on Friday, will vouch for it.
“My father is like Aamir Khan (who played Mahavir Singh Phogat in the film Dangal). He believes, ‘chhoriyan chhoro se kam ni hai (girls are no less than boys)’,” said the daughter of a labourer from Badaun, the youngest among 448 candidates from 25 districts participating in the second leg of the Lucknow camp.
Daddy 1
A participant enters a race at the Military Police recruitment rally on Friday
It wasn’t until 2008 that Chanchal’s father Shyam Singh realised his daughter was one gutsy girl. “I was 10. A boy made fun of girls in our village and I challenged him to a 100m race. Guess who won!” the teen said with a twinkle in her eyes.
From that day, Singh began training his daughter to be a sprinter. “When the Indian Army announced that 100 women will be inducted to the Corps of Military Police, he said I should put my training to use and serve the country,” she said.
daddy 2`
A girl waits on the ground with a family member
Chanchal is not the only aspiring soldier who owes her confidence and determination to a doting daddy. Shivani Yadav of Aligarh would have been a timid girl, but for her father. He wanted to join the defence academy, but failed. He trained his daughter so that she didn’t.

“We woke up at 3am every day. We ran and exercised. The regime was strict. He boosted my confidence and when I was tired, he even massaged my feet,” Shivani recalled, adding that she owed her courage to participate in the recruitment rally to her farmer father.
Jolly Yadav from Meerut said she was fulfilling her late father’s dream. “He wanted me to serve the nation. He said I could work for Delhi Police or be a fighter pilot. I lost him three years ago, but his belief in me inspired me to come here,” said the 20-year-old.
The third leg of the Lucknow recruitment rally will take place on Saturday. Candidates from 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 14 of Uttarakhand will take part.
Read this story in Bengali
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