Hubballi: An arts stream student from a small town has proven long held theories of the society wrong. Nandini Singla has shown to the world that stream is insignificant if the pursuit to reach the target has passion.

Rightly so, Nandini Singla is the Ambassador Designate to Portugal.

Singla recalls her college admission days, when she had scored 88 per cent in SSLC and Basaveshwara College in Bagalkot denied admission to arts stream, specifically pointing out why a student with 88 pc marks must take up Science.

Daughter of K Gururaj Rao, former LIC officer and K Premalatha, Nandini Singla is a 1997 batch Indian Foreign Service Officer. She says that during her BA at Sri Kadasiddheshwara College of Arts and HS Kotambri Science Institute in Hubballi that she got a chance to go to Canada as part of Republic Day parade and a six-month youth exchange programme. That is when she decided to join IFS.

She topped Karnataka University in BA, secured the first rank at University of Mumbai in MA political science, and then pursued M.Phil in JNU. Clearing civil service in first attempt speaks of her dedication.

Married to Sanjeev Singla, personal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she served in various capacities before becoming Joint Secretary (Europe West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.