He couldn’t afford 1 Kg of wax, and now his company consumes 25 tonnes of wax daily!

Tags

Bhavesh, blind., business, candles, hope, Mahabaleshwar, optimism, see, sunrise candles, vision

“To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable.”     

-John Milton

He was not born blind, but his vision kept on deteriorating with age. He had a disease called retina muscular deterioration. By the time he was 23 years, he had become visually impaired. Born in Anjar village of Gujarat, Bhavesh and his entire family shifted to Mahabaleshwar, when a severe earthquake hit Gujarat in 1956. His father was a caretaker of a guesthouse in Mahabaleshwar.  He used to be teased and bullied in school by his classmates who used to call him ‘blind. ‘He felt so hurt that he decided to leave school.

His mother was a great support to him. He could not see the blackboard or the book, so his mother used to read the lessons aloud to him. This continued till his post-graduation. He remembers her inspiring words,” so what if you cannot see the world, do something so that the world will see you”.

Can you believe it, Bhavesh now has a multicrore business of candle making. He supplies candles of different varieties to corporate clients all over India and even abroad. No wonder, there are 200 visually impaired dedicated employees working with him.

Bhavesh was interested in making something with his hands. He used to make kites, toys of clay and also candles. He had a fascination for light as he could not see. He took training in candle making from the National Association for the Blind, Mumbai, where he learned how to make plain candles. He used to make candles at night, but there was no shop to sell them. He rented a cart at ₹ 50 a day and started selling candles in the Mahabaleshwar market. He used to set aside ₹ 25 daily for raw materials. Even though the business was not good, Bhavesh was enjoying what he was doing. Once some miscreants pulled his candles from his cart, and threw them in a gutter.

One day a young lady, Neeta came to purchase candles from his cart. She was impressed by his sincerity and genuineness. They became friends and soon developed a liking for each other. They started meeting more often and finally decided to get married. Neeta’s parents were not in favor of her marrying a blind, jobless person. However, as always love won, and they got married in 1996.

Neeta was full of hope and optimism. Bhavesh could not afford to buy new containers for melting wax, so he used cooking utensils for the same. After some months they purchased a two-wheeler and Neeta would ferry her husband around the town selling candles. After a few years, she learned to drive a van so that she could transport large quantities of candles, which Bhavesh was making. He proudly describes Neeta as the light of his life.

Initially, when he applied for loans or sought some advice or professional guidance on setting up a candle making factory, people scorned him and refused. He would go to malls with his wife and feel and smell the overpriced candles on display there.

He was sanctioned a loan of ₹ 15 lakhs by Satara Bank under a particular scheme for blind people. To start with, he purchased 15 kilos of wax, two dyes, and a handcart. Sunrise candles manufacture 9000 types of plain, scented and aromatherapy candles. The wax is purchased in bulk from the UK. Their clients include Reliance Industries, Ranbaxy, Big Bazar, etc. He teaches the blind workers not only to make candles but someday set up their own business.

Bhavesh looks after the creative aspect of the business, while Neeta takes care of the administrative issues. After having established the business, Bhavesh finds time for sports like shot put, discus and javelin throw. He participates in Paralympic sports and has won 109 medals. To keep himself physically fit, Bhavesh does push-ups, runs eight kms and exercises at the gym installed in the factory. Neeta helps him in his running practice daily. She ties one end of a 15 feet long nylon rope to the van and Bhavesh holds the other end and runs, while Neeta drives the van at the same speed at which her husband is running.

Germany has made the tallest candle in the world which measures 21 metres.Bhavesh has a dream to break the record. He is also making wax statutes of eminent personalities. Currently, Bhavesh has a dream, he  wants to be the first person to climb Mount Everest.He also wants to make every blind person capable of taking care of himself by generating money.

He opened a coaching center at Moleshwar village, near Mahabaleshwar, to train physically challenged people in the art of candle making. He got the National awards for the best self-employed blind person and best employer of the year in  2014 from the President.Bhavesh was invited in the TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’

Recently, Bhavesh was conferred ‘The Nipman Foundation Equal Opportunity Awards’ for 2016 Bhavesh also travels, shares motivational talks and has plans to set up an old age home and an eye hospital.

 

India’s first 100% visually impaired lady to join the Indian Foreign Service

Tags

blind., Braille, Challenges, dreams, encouragement, inspire

The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the night of June 12, 2017, for NL Beno Zephine. The 25-year-old from Chennai was informed by the external affairs ministry on Friday that she has been inducted into the Indian Foreign Service, the first 100 percent visually-challenged person to gain entry into the 69-year-old service. She secured 343rd rank in the 2013-14 Civil Service examination but had to wait for a year for her appointment, as the government worked out the rules to accommodate her. She is presently working as a probationary officer with State Bank of India and is also pursuing a Ph.D. degree.

Zephine credits her parents for what she has achieved, saying her father took her wherever she wanted to go in pursuit of her dreams and managing to buy every book for this purpose. Her mother would assist her in studying the books, sometimes reading them aloud. She used to listen to the 9 o’clock news on All India Radio as a child. She said it helped a lot in her success in the Civil Service Examination.

Her father, Luke Anthony Charles, a railways employee, and mother Mary Padmaja, a homemaker, have been huge sources of inspiration for Beno. Born with the disability, she was educated at the Little Flower Convent for the blind. She transcended the dependence on Braille books by switching to Job Access with Speech (JAWS), a software that allows visually challenged to read from a computer screen, to scan Tamil and English books. She had a normal, happy childhood. Her only brother, Bruno Xavier, works as an engineer in Canada. No one in her family made a big fuss about her disability.

Talking about her love for talking she said,”I was a talkative girl then and I am a talkative woman now. I gave my first public speech when I was in upper KG; I spoke about Jawaharlal Nehru and won my first prize as a speaker – it was a steel plate. After that, there was no stopping me. Instead of wishing me good luck, my teachers used to tell me, ‘we know you are going to bring the cup to the school’. They were that confident about my oratorical skill and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking. The encouragement from my teachers and their confidence in me led to my success in public speaking. In college, I was often made Master of Ceremonies and I loved it.”

Till she was in the tenth standard, her ambition was to become a lawyer or a lecturer. In the eleventh standard, her dream was to be a civil servant, even though she didn’t know what it could offer her. It was just that she was interested in improving society. She didn’t like people wasting water – she used to make a big fuss when someone wasted water. People made fun of her, saying, ‘Here comes the collector.’ This triggered off a spark to prepare for the civil service.

When asked to give a message to youngsters, she said, “Challenges do come, but face them and devise your own strategies. Understand your strengths and weaknesses, “Beno draws her inspiration from American author Helen Adams Keller, who overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century’s leading humanitarians.“I always like the words of Helen Keller where Madam had remarked, ‘I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do’. These words really inspire me. Because I believed that I’d be able to clear civil services exam one day.”

Standing tall at 3 ft. 5 inches!

“I am not short, I am just more down to earth than most people.”

-Kim Fowler Frazer

He was born in Adukkom near Poonjar, Kottayam in the year 1976. His father was a small farmer and agriculture was his main source of income. He was born with a disability which stunted his growth at 3 feet 5 inches only. His home was located on top of a hill, and for a physically-challenged person it wasn’t the most conducive place for mobility. There were obstructions everywhere. He had to walk a quarter of a mile before he got to a real road and his mother used to carry him to school. That is how he made it to school in first year. At school, he was forced to sit on the sidelines while other students played exciting sports. This made him feel sad. Can such a person overcome frustration and live a normal life?

Hold your breath for you are in for a surprise! He not only lived a normal life but has become a source of inspiration for many. This man who did not allow severe disabilities to come in the way of his ambitions, has won a gold medal at the World Arm Wrestling Championship. Despite having 60 per cent disability since birth, he has also won 10 world medals in the last one decade. Joby Mathew, the 36-year-old man, who suffers from Bilateral Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency or in simpler terms stunted growth of the legs since birth, has been a World Arm Wrestling champion twice. What his legs could not, he has achieved with his arms and a bundle of raw courage and grit. “I don’t have legs, so I cannot play football or basketball. Hence I focused on my arm power and started arm wrestling in school days. Soon, I was defeating every one,” Mathew said.

Joby Mathew after winning the World Championship in Spain 2012

Once he reached college, he realized that arm wrestling was a prestigious event and he started taking it up seriously. He figured out that there were national and international competitions for arm wrestling. Arm wrestling needs a lot of practice and he started going to a gym from 1992. From then on, he started participating in competitions. He started off by entering events for the disabled and started winning. “My athletic career started in 1983 during the District Sports Meet at Kottayam. I won’t call it the path-breaking event in my life but it was there that it all started. I managed to win the gold medal in running and throw ball events for the disabled category. Something changed from thereon. Soon, I entered events for the abled bodied as well and to my surprise I started winning those events as well!” he said.

In 2005, his dream came true and he was able to be a part of the World Championships in Japan. He participated in both the General and Disabled categories. By God’s grace, he managed to win 3 medals for India during the Championships. In 2008, he went a step further and became the World Champion in the General Category at the World Arm Wrestling Championship held in Spain. He also managed to win a silver medal in the disabled category. During the 2009 World Championship in Egypt, he won a silver medal each in the disabled and general category. In 2010, he won a silver medal for badminton during the Paralympics in Israel.  In the 2012 World Arm Wrestling Championships held in Spain, he won a gold medal and 2 silver medals. “2013 was a great year for me as I got to participate in the World Dwarf Olympic Games in Michigan. I became the World Champion in 5 different events – Badminton Singles, Badminton Doubles, Shot-put, Javelin Throw and Discus Throw.” he said. Joby, is also the first wheel-chaired fencer in India, holds a brown belt in karate, is a member of the Kerala state parasailing and paragliding team and is a keen swimmer. Rotary Club of Cochin Knights honoured him by giving their 9th vocational excellence award on 20 October 2013.

He proved that hard work, determination, conviction, and working on one’s strong points could dwarf all other perceived disadvantages associated with a physically challenged person like him. His success is as much about his rigorous training as his positive attitude.Joby follows a strict exercise regimen to keep himself fit. He wakes up daily at 5 am and visits the gym where he spends an hour. Next, an hour of swimming and rock climbing for half an hour follows. After having breakfast, he is off to office. Joby is an Assistant Manager (sports trainer) at Bharat Petroleum, where he has been employed since 2008.In the evenings he could be seen playing badminton at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Mathew even drives a specially modified car which enhances his confidence.

“There is so much to learn for all of us from Joby. It’s just his determination that keeps him going,” Mathew’s trainer Shaji said. “When Joby Mathew addressed us for the first time, he motivated us with his challenges and achievements. He is an inspiration to us,” Krishnan R Menon said. According to Joby, winning medals is one aspect of his life, but more important for him is to inspire people and touch their lives. He speaks in schools and colleges and other public functions motivating people to aspire and make the best of what they have. “If you let your limitations take over your mind, they will destroy you,” he says. From his own experiences Joby could inspire millions. “I don’t feel I am a disabled person. I believe in my abilities,” says Joby, who is in great demand as a motivational speaker these days. When asked to spell out the secret of his success he said, “If you let your limitations take over your mind, they will destroy you. You must accept your limitations and do the best with what you have.”

When Mathew isn’t thinking of sports, he dons the role of a husband, and a father to his three-year-old son. Behind every successful man there is a woman. 25-year-old Megha, a dance expert, played the role of a supportive wife and helped him to convert his disability into his biggest strength. “One ambition which remains is to scale the Mount Everest. I want to achieve that in eight years from now after having undergone proper training,” Mathew said. But as the world champion goes on breaking every possible barrier in sports, there is one thing that he is still waiting for and that is recognition because he too has done his nation proud in whatever way he could. Joby hopes that the Indian government would honor him with Arjuna Award for his achievements as an arm wrestler in the national and international arena.

Feat of self-reliance

 

“I do not have a disability, I have a gift! Others may see it as a disability, but I see it as a challenge. This challenge is a gift because I have to become stronger to get around it, and smarter to figure out how to use it; others should be so lucky.”

― Shane E. Bryan

The throng at the petty shop mingles with that of the canteen next door on this muggy morning at the Bharathidasan University’s Palkalaiperur campus on the Tiruchi-Pudukottai highway. A queue of students and staff is waiting for the young woman at the counter who fishes out things as they are demanded – juice, unruled foolscap paper, peanut candy, potato chips, and biscuits among others. In the corner is a newly-installed photocopier that also generates a clientele of its own. Few bat an eyelid when the young woman, S. Amudha, glides to the floor from her chair and crawls to the different shelves to pick up stuff. For the 30-year-old paraplegic, navigating the world with her hands has been a way of life for a long time now. “It’s difficult, but I’ve never felt it worth complaining about,” says Amudha.

The eldest of three children, Amudha clearly remembers the days she was on her feet as a child in Chinna Suriyur village before a fever stiffened her limbs and paralysed her when she was six. “My grandmother took me to the Samayapuram temple and offered many prayers and massaged my hands regularly till they straightened out,” she recalls. “But somehow my legs got neglected, and I lost the ability to use them.”

S.Amudha

Her parents, both farm workers let Amudha attend the local government school, physically carrying her to and from campus every day. But her education had to stop with Standard V, the highest class available at the school then. “When I got admission to a hostel in Thanjavur two years later, my parents were not inclined to send me there, so I just dropped out,” she says. Alone at home for most of the day for the next 10 years, Amudha overcame depression and fear to begin her ongoing journey towards self-sufficiency. “I learned how to cook and do the household chores first. Later, my father used his savings to buy a wet grinder for me. I started selling idli batter for around 5 to 6 customers every day. Some nearby eateries started contacting me as well,” she says.

At the age of 20, Amudha was encouraged by a teacher who was giving tuitions to her sister, to change her attitude and interact more with the world outside. “I came to the Bharathidasan University in 2004, and worked as a saleswoman in the store run by (former professor) Mr. Chellam Balasundaram for two years,” says Amudha. When her benefactor retired, she went back home, but six months later, with the help of a loan from the Women Entrepreneur’s Association of Tamil Nadu (WEAT), she decided to start a small shop on the university campus selling pickles, appalams and vadagams prepared by self-help groups which paid a commission of Rs. 10 for every Rs.100 worth of goods sold. “But it didn’t do very well,” admits Amudha, “because such products don’t sell every day. From 2007-09, I used to simply come to the store and wait for customers.”

The establishment of a canteen next door brought an electricity connection to the building, and as it were, some power into Amudha’s business plan as well. “I started with a fridge for soft drinks, and then slowly built up a range of products,” she says. Starting with goods worth Rs.5, 000, Amudha says she now has got material for at least Rs.2 lakhs in the store. “I just kept reinvesting all my earnings back into the store,” she reveals. As the store took off, so did Amudha’s personal life. She got married to her cousin Chelladurai, and the couple has a daughter, Ajeetha, aged 5. “Maintaining a household, looking after a baby and keeping a career going can be difficult when you have a physical problem like mine,” she agrees, “but I prefer not to complain about it. If I do, I’ll be asked to stay at home!” she smiles. Instead she focuses on her future plans – right now it is the brand-new photocopier that has begun to earn its keep after an initial dull spell. Amudha has applied for a bank loan to help pay off its Rs. 80,000 cost, while another project is to learn how to drive the specially adapted three-wheeler scooter that she purchased with the help of donations from friends and well-wishers. At present, she uses an auto-rickshaw to commute.

“I have to really thank all the kind-hearted people in my family and at the Bharathidasan University who helped me come this far,” she says on an emotional note. “They have taught me that one can be useful to society even if one is differently-abled.”

Standing tall at 2 feet plus!

              Poonam was qualified, talented and educated but still could not get a decent job like “normal” people. Suffering from’ Osteogenesis Imperfecta,’ sometimes known as brittle bone disease, or “Lobstein syndrome”, her tiny body has been ravaged by numerous operations. In her own words, there are perhaps more plates supporting her tiny body than bones. Poonam is just two feet and eight inches in height, but this did not stop her from positively impacting the lives of many. An MBA in Finance with a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management, she still struggled to find a job. Prospective employers never considered her exceptional qualifications or abilities but declined to hire her just because of her tiny structure. Even before completing 30 years, she has proved them all wrong! She converted her disability into an opportunity and started an organization to help the people around her in many ways.

Poonam, the youngest daughter with two elder brothers, has always been treated as a normal child. Her parents have been the major source of motivation and they have instilled in her the ability to live normally.Poonam attended a normal school in Bhopal and completed her graduation in Commerce. Driven by the urge to excel, Poonam completed her Master’s in Business Administration specializing in Finance. To equip herself further, she also completed her post graduate diploma in Personnel Management. These educational qualifications would have landed a “normal” individual with a decent employment, but not Poonam.

In every interview she attended, prospective employers were always concerned about her tiny physical structure – how would she commute to and from the office, whether she would be able to sit and work for 8 to 10 hours, and what about targets and deadlines? Even the various reservations in the employment sector never favoured Poonam.Finally, a HR firm seemed a shade positive. She approached them stating that they need not pay her any salary, until they were convinced about her working abilities. Taking her on the face value, she was hired and treated like any other employee. She had a set of targets and deadlines and was also scolded if there were delays or unmet targets. The only exemption made to her was that she could go home if she felt uneasy or unwell. But the tasks had to be completed, albeit from home. Poonam worked here for six years.

Soon Poonam realised that she had not progressed vertically. She was where she began on day one. She was not satisfied with a dull job and wanted to do something different, which could challenge her. After a point, the work became mundane and she did not feel satisfied. Her friends would discuss and motivate her to think beyond this routine job. That’s when one of her friends, Ashish Mishra, helped her look at the larger picture – wherein she could truly utilize her potential to help numerous other challenged individuals to shore up their potential. Uddip Social Welfare Society, a registered organisation, was still in its nascent stage. Poonam left her job and breathed life into Uddip Social Welfare Society. It allowed Poonam to utilise her potential, as someone who has seen the worst in her life, and has emerged as a role model. She has focused on physically challenged individuals first.

Uddip Social Welfare Society has started a campaign ‘Can Do’ for the empowerment of disabled individuals. In this campaign, Uddip worked with Shubham Viklang Evam Samaj Seva Samiti, and in August 2014, a small session on skill development, career counseling and guidance was conducted.It was in this session that the true worth of Poonam was realized. She wants to continue working with the organization and support as many people as possible.

Gangaprasad is one such individual who participated in the campaign. He hails from a very poor family and was admitted to the Shubham Viklang Evam Samaj Seva Samiti when he was barely six or seven. He is suffering from polio in both his legs.  He completed his schooling and is now studying in the second year of the BCA. He believes that, even with his physical disability, he will definitely find a job. Poonam has been counseling him to be prepared holistically. Gangaprasad has been preparing for government exams, but he cannot develop even a small computer program. Poonam, along with her friend who is a computer expert, is helping Gangaprasad in mastering programming. Poonam is also coaching him, in terms of how to perform at group discussions and interviews. This is where she is using the experiences from her own life to guide and prepare others. .

Other activities that she has begun focusing on are blood donations and livelihoods. Poonam has concentrated her efforts on rural areas, having completed a survey of one village already. She wants to make the women self-sufficient by providing them livelihood options. The survey discovered that sewing is the way forward for empowering the women. It also indicated that women in the villages would like to become literate, or enhance their literary skills so that they can assist their own children in finishing their homework. She is also working on projects to enable learning by fun for children.

With support from friends and family, Poonam has achieved her dreams.  Spelling out her secret of success, Poonam states, “If one’s willpower is strong, one is propelled to action, and when one takes that action, the path ahead becomes clearer.” A big salute to Poonam standing tall, in spite of her short height.

 

Showcasing talents of the hearing impaired

“Maybe my way of communicating through sign made me more in tune with my body and how it moved. Who knows? I just know when I saw a stage for the first time; I wanted to be on it.”

   Marlee Matlin

There are between 0.9 million and 14 million hearing impaired people in India. Perhaps out of every five hearing impaired in the world one lives in India, making it the country with the largest number of people with this disability. Despite the numbers, there are numerous problems faced by the community. The main problem is the lack of education. There are just two ways for them to communicate: Writing and sign language. Lack of structure and policies make it difficult for them to learn to write properly.

Meet Smriti Nagpal, 24, CEO and founder, Atulyakala, a for-profit social enterprise that is creating opportunities for deaf artists to grow, learn, share and live a life of dignity and pride. Love, it is said, has no language.Smriti Nagpal’s older siblings were hearing impaired. But this did not stop the three of them from communicating their feelings for each other like in any other family.Smriti took it upon her to learn sign language to be the voice of her siblings. “I grew up with two elder siblings who are 10 years older than me. The only way to communicate with them was to learn sign language that sort of became my mother tongue. Learning it was very important for my family since I was the bridge between my parents and my siblings,” says Smriti.

Smriti was witness to her siblings dealing with these issues, and when she turned 16 she volunteered at the National Association of Deaf, NAD. It was her way to give back to society. After some years while she was enrolled in her Bachelor of Business Administration, she got a call for an audition in a television channel. They needed someone who knew sign language for their news programme and Smriti was their choice.

So while she was studying, she became responsible for the Hearing Impaired Morning Bulletin on Doordarshan. This job opened a door to a lot of opportunities which gave her the chance to understand her passion to solve problems of the deaf community. Seven months from graduation she heard a story which motivated her to take act. “I met a senior artist who had a masters’ degree in arts. Unfortunately, he was working in a NGO doing manual work. His talent was completely wasted! I came back home and did some research and knew that I had to do something about helping artists who are hearing impaired. So together with my friend Harshit, I decided to start Atulyakala. That artist who I met at the NGO joined our project,” says Smriti.

Atulyakala makes profit from selling online and offline art pieces created by hearing impaired artists. “Their creativity is usually kept in a closet. We are giving them true freedom to go out of this closet and spread their creativity. And we do that by putting their name in the front,” says Smriti.”We don’t want to employ deaf artists to empower the name of our brand; we want our brand to empower the name of deaf artists.” That’s why they sign every piece they create. We want them to feel that they are creating something on their own,” adds Smriti.”We now have a partnership with famous musicians to write the first song for the deaf community and we are doing the same for illustrations. We work with famous artists to empower deaf artists, and in a few months some of those collaborations will be published,” says Smriti.

Atulyakala does not want to limit its work with only deaf artists, but want to impact the entire deaf community. “We are also raising awareness about sign language. We believe that the change should start with educating the next generation, that’s why we are conducting different workshops in universities. We are also doing a handbook to explain to people the basics of sign language,” says Smriti.

Even though she spent her life with hearing impaired people, Smriti is living a great learning experience. “I know them for very long, but I was not working with them. They were friends and people to hang out with. Now, my point of view is different. “Working with them I understood that they have endless potential,” says Smriti, “but they are not confident about themselves. That is because of the mainstream attitude towards the disabled. People should understand they are not a minority, they are part of the world that cannot be excluded.”

Atulyakala started just two years ago, but its founders have a clear vision for its future.” We want to have it as a social enterprise that sells products made entirely by deaf people. To do this in the best way possible we need to create a strong brand, but obviously it is not just about the brand, but about the artists behind it.”

Atulyakala is based in the populous capital city of India, New Delhi which is the biggest market for its products. Although Smriti’s firm is a for profit social enterprise it has already had a huge impact on numerous hearing impaired people. It has helped give them a better quality life and positioned them to contribute more to society where they previously felt of little use. Even if Smriti herself does not yet know it, this is a story that is bound to inspire and change the lives of millions of people all over the world that she will never even meet in her lifetime.                                                                                                                     “                                                                                                                        “Moreover, we want to continue the sensitization campaign we are running and the collaborations with mainstream artists. This community can’t feel left out anymore,” says Smriti. Besides receiving recognition for her work, Smriti had the chance to interpret the Republic Day Parade of 2014 in sign language on national television for India’s deaf community.

Smriti’s advice to young change makers: “Never give up on your dreams. I’m a dreamer. It’s important for people our age to dream and follow our heart. That’s the only thing that can move us forward.” It’s our duty to give something back to the community. This will give you so much happiness that you cannot imagine.” To do that you don’t have to be a social entrepreneur, you can simply do small things for people and society every day.”

A battle of 15 yrs for getting into IAS

“Deaf people can do anything, except hear.”
– I. King Jordan (Former President of Gallaudet University)

Badangarhi is a small village in Alwar district of Rajasthan. It is so small that according to official records its population is just 169. One cannot expect basic amenities like roads, public toilets, schools or electricity. The residents of this village would be cursing their fate.

Can you believe it that in spite of all odds one boy from Badangarhi secured positions in the merit list of the class X and XII board examinations? Not only that, he is also partially deaf. These challenges could not deter him from chasing his dreams and realizing his ambitions. Meet Mr. Maniram Sharma who has made history by clearing the IAS examination not once but three times in 2005, 2006 and 2009!

Maniram started losing his hearing at the age of five, becoming totally deaf by nine. His parents, both illiterate farm labourers, could do little to help. Yet, Maniram continued trudging to the nearest school, 5km away, and cleared class X standing fifth in the state board examination and cleared class XII ranking seventh in the state board. He cleared the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) examination, but his hearing disability came in his way. He had to take up the job of a clerk-cum-typist, to meet the economic challenges of the family. He studied and did part time jobs , during his final year .So much was his determination and concentration that he topped the university in Political Science. He went on to clear the NET (National Eligibility Test). He then gave up his RPSC job and became a lecturer. Not satisfied with that, he became a Junior Research Fellow and completed his PhD in Political Science during which time he taught M Phil and MA students in Rajasthan University. Having completed his PhD, Maniram got through the Rajasthan Administrative Service and while in service he started trying for the UPSC.

Maniram Sharma has won a 15-year-old battle for justice. On 8th October 2009, this deaf IAS candidate learnt he has made it to the Civil service. With this, Maniram has not just won a personal battle, but a milestone victory for disabled persons like him who have been kept away from the premier government service. Maniram’s case has been highlighted by Times of India over the past couple of years — how his efforts were thwarted on one ground or the other, till he finally went through surgery to make his aided hearing so good that he appeared in his IAS interview this time by the oral question-and-answer method. Despite this, his induction into the service was just not happening. While other successful candidates got their call on August 17, he didn’t. Finally, on September 3 he was informed that he had cleared the exam on all counts but still had to wait for another month to get his appointment. “I still can’t believe it has happened. It has not sunk in. After suffering so many disappointments, it’s difficult to imagine it has actually come true,” said Maniram.

Maniram’s IAS saga began in 1995 when he was 20 years old .He appeared in the civil services examination but failed in his first attempt to clear the preliminary examination. He was then 100% deaf. Since then he has cleared the exam three times — 2005, 2006 and 2009. In 2006, he was told he could not be allotted the IAS as only the partially deaf were eligible, not fully deaf persons like him. Around this time, following the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sharma was allotted a job with Indian Post and Telecom Account and Finance Service. He says, “I cleared the civil service exam in 2005 but the UPSC sent me back without allotting any service as I was deaf. This, despite the fact that there is a mandatory quota for disabled candidates and they are eligible to appear for the examinations. “

“I appeared for the exams again in 2006 and went through the same ordeal. I was told that only the partially deaf were eligible. But I saw a silver lining; during the course of the medical tests mandatory before joining the civil services, for the first time, I was told that my deafness might be curable. It required a cochlear implant.” There was no way the family could arrange for the 7,50,000 rupees required for his treatment. But his savior came in the form of Supreme Court lawyer Arun Jaitley, now leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, who collected 5,50,000 rupees from various organizations. Sharma managed to borrow the balance amount from various other sources. The ear surgery was done at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in mid–2007 and Sharma can now hear partially. But to hear sounds again suddenly after 25 years was not a very pleasant experience.” I put up with severe headaches and suffered from nausea. Many a times I felt like removing the implant to escape the noise that would fill my head.” recalls Maniram in a nostalgic mood. People undergoing such implants are required to undergo specialized speech therapy to help them distinguish sounds from noise.

The hearing problem runs in the family, Sharma admits. “More than 20 persons in our family have hearing disability. My maternal grandmother was the first person who was deaf. This was passed on to my mother and maternal uncle. Both my sisters are deaf and now my children are also acquiring this problem. My eight–year–old son, a bright student, uses a hearing aid. But when he becomes totally deaf, I will make him undergo the cochlear implant surgery. At least now I know the remedy. And when I look back now at all the hardships faced, I see a sense of purpose in it.”

He appeared for the IAS again in 2009 and cleared it, scoring the highest in the hearing-impaired category. Yet, he faced several more hurdles as the government put technical hurdles questioning his level of disability. Anyway, this story has a happy ending, and Maniram has no complaints. “If I could wait for 15 years, I could surely wait for a few more months. But the uncertainty kept me on edge,” he said without rancour. He is off to his village Badangarhi, to convey the news to his family. “I have decided to go in person to tell them. My whole village will celebrate” says a beaming Maniram.