Swati Gupta, 19, was forced to work as a maid so she could support her family after her father passed away. However, the Vashishts, whom she worked for, soon realised that she was meant for better things.

As they watched her work, the Powai-based family, which recently moved to India from abroad, noticed that she was quick to grasp things, and had an eagerness to learn. They then did something for her which few people do, got her admitted to the BM English speaking institute at Dadar to learn basic English and even plan to get her vocational training to help her secure a better job.

Swati lives with her mother and four siblings in a slum at Worli. She lost her father last year. Her mother runs the house by selling snacks and her eldest sister is married. However, her mother's income was nowhere close to enough to make ends meet, since one of her younger brothers is appearing for the SSC and the youngest is studying in a BMC school. Swati had to stop going to school when she was in class VII.

But her life changed after Manglam Vashisht hired her. "After my father died, I decided to help my mother run the house. My elder sister and I took up work, I as a maid at the Vashishts' home in Powai. Manglam madam started teaching me English alphabets along with their son. It made me feel very confident. Now I can understand when two people are speaking in English. I am really grateful to her for teaching me," said Swati.

Speaking to dna, Manglam said, "Swati is a genuine and sincere girl. When she first began working at my place, she used to stammer and was very scared. I realised later that she was quite sharp. She can operate technology, and fixed quite a few appliances. I felt she was not meant to work as a maid. She was doing it because of family problems. She is good at grasping, understanding things and is very progressive. Our goal is to teach her basic reading and writing and enable her to get a better job. We are setting up our own business so we may absorb her in our office soon."

Piyush Bhatia, founder of BM English institute where Swati studies, was all praise for the 19-year-old, "Swati joined our institute on 7 July. She is good at grasping things and has started understanding basic sentences."