Bharti Singh opens up about living in extreme poverty to Maniesh Paul, says 'We used to get free food from the government'

Bharti Singh has emerged as the queen of comedy with her perfect timing and her charming presence. She definitely knows how to tickle the audiences' funny bones and is one of the most successful comedians of the industry currently. However, her conditions had not always been the same.

Talking to Maniesh Paul's podcast, Bharti opened up about living in extreme poverty at one point in her life. She revealed, "We used to get free food from the government. I also got ₹15 per day. They used to give us three coupons of ₹5 each and we could get a glass of juice with one coupon. You won’t believe, I used to have one glass of juice, just to ensure I have energy to stand there for hours and practise rifle shooting. The rest, I would save. At the end of the month, I used to get fruits and juices in exchange for those coupons and take them home. I could hardly swallow that one glass of juice, daily. It felt like Diwali, the fruits would be all placed and everyone circled around waiting for one piece of fruit."

She often never wanted to go home. She quipped, "Ghar jaane ka mann nahi karta tha (I didn’t feel like going home). I would stay in college with my friends, and eat at the hostel. I knew once I go back, I would have to face poverty. Live in that dim light." She also hopes that she never has to go back to that dark phase of her life. She said, "I don't want to ever go back there. I don't have very big dreams but I keep praying to God that I am able to sustain what I have. We have eaten salt and roti but now we have dal, sabzi and roti. I just hope my family always has at least dal to eat. I will never want to face the situation or have my family go through that."

Bharti has been a national-level rifle shooter and had also represented Punjab at the Nationals 12 years ago!