Neelam is the principal of a blind school, who loves teaching and being with students. She saw much financial and emotional turmoil in her life and feels that ups and downs are a part of everyone’s life.

Neelam Maheshwari is working as the principal of Pragya Chakshu Blind School, Udaipur.

Neelam is from Jaipur, however, after getting a promotion in September 2021, she opted to work at Pragya Chakshu, which is a residential blind school, and is living here alone, her family being in Jaipur. Neelam says that she has completed thirty-five years in her service and was about to take voluntary retirement. However, after seeing the children in this school, she decided otherwise.

Neelam shares that her father was a professor of Physics and supported girl education to the core. It was because of his dedication, that all her siblings could attain good education even in the times when girl education was not prioritized by society.

Neelam also adds that only taking education is not important but using it in the right place and gaining experience from it is also very important in life.

Talking about her role models, Neelam says that her father, Prof. N.L. Maheshwari is her role model. Neelam shares that even after financial problems, his father attained a good education, did research in Astronomy, and always supported his children in all their life decisions.

Neelam feels that she was a leader from her childhood itself and used to be the monitor of her class. She was also a very social person from the beginning itself which helped her grow in life.

Neelam opines that people should choose the field of teaching not just as a source of income or employment but as a medium of service. She feels that the responsibility of a teacher is to build the career of their students and give them good moral values.

When asked about her accomplishments, Neelam says that during her promotion she had the option to choose from 1700 schools and decided to work in this blind school with 104 children. She feels that working here, taking care of these children, and providing them with the right kind of support is her accomplishment in life.

Talking about her struggles, Neelam says that working in a job was often not looked at as a great option by society and people earlier, and she had to listen to many things regarding the same. She wanted to become a doctor but could not opt for it due to the financial condition of her family. Also, Neelam says that along with these issues, she also suffered emotionally and physically when she was diagnosed with the rare condition, Bicornuate Uterus, which created difficulty in childbirth. She also had to get her Uterus removed which resulted in hormonal changes and also suffered a severe cardiac arrest in 2014.

When asked about her experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, Neelam says that it transformed society and also strengthened the medical infrastructure of our country.

In her free time, Neelam likes reading Hindi literature and going on tours with her family.