Experiences tell me that life is tough within stories, but stories of life are beautiful. My life began actually three years before my birth. My mother was deciding between nursing and teaching as a profession and it was nursing that came to her which later on helped her in knowing about Indian Institute of Cerebral Policy and taking me there for therapy and intervention. My life started then. I believe God gives each one of us the opportunity we want.
It’s then up to us to move ahead. I was born on 6th of November. Just after birth I had severe jaundice which affected my brain cells. It led to my having a condition called cerebral palsy.
In my childhood I was very lean and thin. I had no power of controlling my head. I could not sit without support. I could not use my hands so I started to use my feet to play. I could not sit up till I was two and a half years old. My grandparents used to feel my mind with fairy tales and stories from the puranas. I used to love listening to them even though I didn’t understand all of it then. Today I know that that has built my imagination and humanness. Yes, school life is like a golden period for everyone. My parents took me to a special school. At first I found very little interest in studies. But seeing my younger sister going to school I was encouraged to perform well. Every year I came first in my class. I started using my right foot to right. In sports I won several medals. Can’t tell you how I enjoyed being mischievous. Let me share a bit with you all.
During our break we used to play cricket and racing with our wheelchairs in the corridors of
IACP. I must have heard my head badly a number of times for this crazy. During lunch time if our class teachers were away for a bit we used to play karate with our handkerchiefs. And if anyone would ask us, Pat would come our reply, we are building up our appetite. Once a teacher from the next class came and punished us. I remember having to hold my ears with my feet.
But I still went ahead and remained naughty. So if some classmate and I had a fight I would go and puncture the tire of his wheelchair just for fun. I enjoyed the company of my friends and teachers a lot. I started drawing, playing musical instruments with my feet. My school life was full of excitement.
I passed my secondary exam from center for special education IACP. In the beginning I had a writer who used to write down what I pointed to on my alphabet board with my right thumb.
Then I began writing on my own holding the pen between the toes of my right foot.
Now I type and work independently using the regular keyboard and mouse. Now I would like to say something. For someone with cerebral palsy, it is very difficult to maintain balance and control movements of the hands and feet. Doing intricate work using the foot like writing, cutting vegetables, drawing is really very difficult. I apply all the strength and force of my body required to do these tasks. Since I feel fatigued after doing a little work and I need to lie down.
I took admission in a mainstream school for higher secondary.
Then I passed become with honors in accountancy from shouldn’t know that college, Kolkata.
I don’t have any noteworthy memories of my college life. What I do remember, however, is holding my mother’s hand while entering the college. Others used to be held on the sixth floor, which I had to climb and using the wheelchair wasn’t possible.
It was really painful, all of it. Massaging next to me in the class to take down notes because I found no one who was willing to oblige me. The bench I used to sit on was hard, but as I said, the emotional distress was the most. I longed to have a circle of friends, both boys and girls chatting up with them, going movie-watching and all of it. If only there was a ramp for an elevator available. I owned the second prize for a general quiz contest in 2003 from West Bengal Pollution Board, Builder Industrial and Technological Museum in CSM, Government of India.
I owned the second prize for annual national art competition in 2000 from very special
arts Indian. I got the Surendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage in 2000 from the telegraph school awards. I was also awarded the most creative adult by the governor of West Bengal in 2011. I had come a long way and really have achieved quite a bit. The only reason behind this has been my not letting any opportunity go. Hence, whenever I have any work in hand, I address it at once and complete it with full concentration. My mother is both my entire world as well as my inspiration. I have always seen her do every little task with a lot of consciousness.
She has always kept herself busy with me. After returning from work, she used to take me to the park to play or play indoor games with me. Even after my siblings were born, my mother included all three of us in play and everything else. She always advised me to try and follow what others say. And that’s exactly what I do. Hence, I could reach this far for which I am rateful to one and all. My mother takes pride in me as much as I take pride in having a mother like her in my life. She has own two prestigious awards in her career too. She believes that there is no greater dignity than serving others. This is the reason why I often get angry with her and quarrel with her. She likes to do all the work, all by herself. Presenting a paper in the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Lisbon 2014. It’s not just me, but all of us would like to leave lives that are simple and ordinary. Not extraordinary such that we stand out. For this, not only do we need to have infrastructural changes, but also awareness.
I would like to leave my life the way I want to, battling my way through hurdles that
come my way.