PHOTOS: How a pandemic changed everything for these students

Gurgaon: Lakshay and Prachi Narang, ages 26 and 24

For the Narang siblings, the pandemic dramatically changed what their future would look like. Lakshay completed his Master’s degree in Public Policy from NLSIU, Bengaluru and Prachi enrolled for a Master’s in Education programme at Harvard University. Right now, Lakshay is looking for a job, while Prachi will be starting online classes at Harvard soon.

In June, Lakshay graduated, sitting at home. “We had a two-week graduation trip planned and I was supposed to have a convocation.” Instead, Prachi baked him a cake and he had a quiet celebration at home. Prachi would have quit her job as a school teacher by now and been on a flight. With classes going online, she had the choice to either defer her admission for a year or drop out of the course. With her deferral application being rejected, she took the tough call of continuing classes online for a year. “It's not easy to get into Harvard,” she smiles.