NOIDA: Nikita Vaid, one of Noida Metro’s young women locomotive pilots, reached the hot seat of popular TV game show KBC ( Kaun Banega Crorepati ) and won prize money of Rs 3,20,000, in an episode that was telecast on Diwali. Four generations of Nikita’s family has served the railways, albeit this time, it’s a metro train she will be operating.At the show, host Amitabh Bachchan referred to an article, ‘Women to be driving force behind Aqua line’, published in TOI in August, while introducing 23-year-old Nikita to his audience. The station controller and train operator (SCTO) for the Noida-Greater Noida Aqua line said she was thrilled to be called “metro devi” by Big B at the show.Nikita is, in fact, following in the footsteps of her great grandfather Karam Chand Vaid, who was a superintendent at Kalaswala station before Independence, and her grandfather Sudesh Pal who served as a senior section engineer in Indian Railways in Lucknow and Moradabad. Nikita’s maternal grandfather too worked with the railways.After initial screenings, Nikita got through till the fastest-fingers-first round at the KBC, which is the entry for only one contestant to the hotseat.Talking about her experience, Nikita said the experience of playing the game and watching it on TV “is totally different”. “When we watch the game, we feel it’s very easy. However, when you reach there, you feel the pressure and tension. Answering fast till the timer is there, also makes it tough,” she said.Though she managed to win only Rs 3,20,000, Nikita described her experience as “a lifetime, memorable one”. “I could not take some decisions due to the pressure I was feeling while on the hot seat,” she said.Asked the best thing she liked about the show, Nikita had an obvious answer, “AB” (Amitabh Bachchan).“He spoke to us after the show when we were clicking pictures. He called me ‘metro devi’ and told me that he too had shot for a movie in the metro (Paa). I told him that Piku and Paa were my favourites and he recited the best ‘No means no’ dialogue from Piku,” she said.Elated at her success, Nikita, who is currently on a pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra, has decided to hand over the money to her father so that he can make use of it for her family’s future.

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