From modest MP home, class 12 topper’s success mantra: ‘Count targets, not hours’

3 min readBhopalJun 15, 2026 07:53 PM IST

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, driving an electric scooter, turned up in person to congratulate the young woman on her achievement. (Special Arrangement)

The shelf above Chandni Vishwakarma’s head is crowded. Two school bags hang beneath it, and a handful of trophies occupy one corner. In the small two-room house in Bhopal’s Bhim Nagar settlement, there isn’t much space to spare.

This is where Madhya Pradesh’s Class 12 commerce topper lives.

When the results were declared this year, neighbours began pouring into the narrow lane outside her home. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, driving an electric scooter, turned up in person to congratulate the young woman on her achievement.

Her dreams are just starting – the 17-year-old now wants to clear the National Defence Academy examination and join the Army.

“I want to become a lieutenant and serve the country,” Chandani said.

After each paper in the board examinations, Chandni would come home and work out how many marks she thought she had lost. By the time the results were declared, she had already run the numbers several times. When the state’s highest commerce score – 494 out of 500 – was confirmed, she wasn’t off the mark.

The same precision ran through her preparation. Chandni did not measure study time in hours. She measured it in targets.

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“I never focused on how many hours I studied. I only focused on completing targets. If a target was completed in eight hours or ten hours, it didn’t matter,” she said.

“I faced many ups and downs, but I had written down my aims. I decided that no matter what happened, I would achieve them,” she said.

Chandni’s father, Ram Bhuvan Vishwakarma, works in Bhopal’s furniture market as a carpenter. Her mother, Bimla, works at a school and cooks in homes. The family of four lives in the two-room house in Bhim Nagar, near the Vidhan Sabha.

When books were needed, the family had to think carefully before buying them. Often, Chandni borrowed them from others rather than add to her parents’ expenses. Getting to school – a 45-minute journey each way by auto and bus – was followed by coaching, and only then by study at home. She found she concentrated best when her parents had left for work, and the house was empty.

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Her teachers helped with fees. At home, her mother worked to keep the financial anxiety out of Chandni’s view. “Salary was less, and there were many financial difficulties,” said Bimla. “But we never let Chandni feel it. We both managed together so that her studies would not be interrupted.”

Asked what she would tell students who come after her, she said, “Be consistent from the first day. Hard work pays off on the last day.”

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Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.

Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.

Expertise and Reporting Beats

Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:

National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.

Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).

Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.

Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.

Professional Background

Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.

Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.

Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.

Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.

Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.

Digital & Professional Presence

Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express

Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More

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