Diversity is her second name. And there is a young being that is rightly placed on values and dignity with a 'Serve the World' attitude. Through consistency she has proved her mettle and created a harmonious pathway to whatever she wants to achieve. A passionate programmer, a writer, an adventurer, an inventor, a social worker, an artist and also a commendable leader; clearly she has all of it up her sleeves and doubtlessly, she is a lady of vision.

Diya Patel, a final year software engineering student, is surely an example for many. Famous for her versatility and righteous nature, she has always been an extremely curious learner. Contrast to the education system which emphasizes on having a relatively bookish knowledge, Diya has always maintained her high in real world applications. Her defined interests in computer programming and technologies along with problem solving skills and practical techniques were something she held onto. With a realization, what her potent was and how good can she be at coding, she worked harder at it. And when got an opportunity, at the age of just 19 she co-authored a technical book called “Object Oriented Programming Methodology”.

As a child, she was very reserved. Her school was one of a kind, which offered various opportunities to every child and encouraged them to participate in all activities. This helped her to become an all-rounder. Along with studies, she worked for Helpage India, an NGO for elderly people at a very tender age. Diya improved her communication skills and gained confidence through interacting with people of different age groups. Respecting elders, working for them, treating them with high regards; all became ingrained values for her which she always follows.

Diya wanted to serve the world. And that's what made her choose medical as her time-ahead profession. Contributing to the society by her work was something she always wanted. But since she couldn't secure a seat in a medical college, her next option was either dentistry or engineering. With despair, she opted for engineering. And as she had basic knowledge of programming languages, she went for software engineering.

With time she evolved as a programmer and took real interest in exploring various technological fields. A brilliant catch; she always stood out among other students. She did a couple of internships in her second and final year and it was in her third year when she got an opportunity to write a book. As she was good at programming, she decided to write a book on Java programming language, with one of her colleagues, Mohit Shah.

About the book she says, “In the book, we have come up with an idea of explaining entire of the programs using tables. If there is a loop in a program, we have simplified it by using tables. Usually books have programs and their outputs. But students are unaware about the working of the program and how the output is formed. Even if there is an error, there is no way of knowing why and how the error came up. We have explained line by line execution of the programs, which I am sure, will be most helpful for students who seek to learn coding in a practical way. Also the book contains QR codes, which on scanning can lead you to its related Youtube videos. This helps the student in a real good way as they get a bonus visual learning with the book. Writing the book was quite dicey. There was no one to tell me how to do it and what should I avoid doing. I used to be up till late hours to complete the chapters and sometimes I had to study a concept for nearly 3-4 hours just to find out how I can write it in a more simplified manner. When I look back at the whole experience, though it was difficult, it was worth going through. Today I am happy, that I did it”.

During the time, when Diya was writing the book, she was appointed as the general secretary of her department. Well, not just that. She became the first ever girl general secretary of her college.

“The college crowd wasn’t happy with the decision of appointing a girl as the GS. They said I won’t be able to handle it. That was upsetting, but I took it as a challenge. I knew I could do anything that a guy could. And 'why not?' was the only question in my mind.”

This girl managed it all; her studies, her book and the management of the college activities. She rose to fame when she stood up for justice, and raised her voice against a foul play in one of her college events.

“As a child I wanted to read fairytales and adventures, as a teenager I wanted to read romance and fictions, but when I am 60 or 70, and I cannot walk and  my passion for reading might still be the same, maybe that is when sitting on my chair I will want to read my own biography. And I want to live a life that leads to the biography, which someone else will write for me. I want to make a story that will inspire others.”

Diya is planning to complete her Masters degree abroad and aims at becoming the first Indian origin lady CEO of Google Inc. Also she wishes to take a step towards serving the society. This bright, polite and energetic student has only one tagline, “It’s only when you put in those extra efforts that you receive what others don’t”. With students running after books and degrees and salaries, this girl proves to be an example of a visionary who is determined at contributing to the world in best of her talents.