 A challenging life
Arulmozhi
 Arulmozhi was the favourite child of her parents who lived in a remote village called Kattur, in
the suburb of Salem. She was born after three sons and after they went to many temples and prayed to get a daughter. They were immensely happy to have a beautiful daughter. Though he was an agriculturist in a small village, Arulmozhi's father spent a lot of money for buying toys, dresses, etc., for his daughter. She was brought up very well by the parents and the three elder brothers showered love on their only sister.
But they did not know that they had to face untold miseries. When she was three years old, she had a severe attack of polio after heavy fever and her whole body below the neck became lifeless. Her neck also became shaky. Several doctors treated her but there was very little improvement in her condition. While her family spent the day time in taking her to different doctors, the evenings and nights they tried black magic to cure the little girl. When someone suggested the treatment followed by Keralite physicians, they took young Arulmozhi to them.
They tried oil bath, oil massage, herbal mixtures, steam bath, etc., for three years. Her father sold his land for her treatment. There was a little improvement in her. If she was made to lean on the wall, she was able to stand for 2-3 minutes. She could make a few movements on the floor. The parents were happy to see some change in their daughter.
As some others suggested that quick relief would be possible in Siddha treatment, they switched over from Ayurveda to Siddha.
Contrary to their expectation, it proved to be very harmful to Arulmozhi. Her condition worsened and she became motionless again and the little movements she had regained were lost. When late
chief minister M G Ramachandran visited Salem for election propaganda in 1967, Arulmozhi's parents met him and the generous
chief minister was moved on seeing the disabled girl and recommended free treatment at the Andhra Mahila Hospital
in Chennai.
 All the three left for Chennai and Arulmozhi was admitted
to the hospital. Many other children had been undergoing treatment and all of them have
been undergoing treatment, staying in the hospital. Seven-year-old Arulmozhi was examined by
leading orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Natarajan. He felt that she should be operated
upon for just folding her legs and she would not be able to walk at all. Treatment
continued in the same hospital for two years. Arulmozhi narrates her experiences with a sad note.
"Everyone would have shoes for their legs but in my case they fixed something up to my neck.
But there was no improvement in my condition. Two years passed like that. I wanted to go to school attached to the hospital. I started learning the alphabets very fast and wrote letters to my parents with the slight movements in my right hand. It took one hour to write one line but I did not lose hope.
It took one full day to write one letter to my parents. During my stay in Andhra Mahila Sabha Hospital, I completed my second standard.
When I saw the young boys and girls running and playing I was cursing myself for my misfortune and
disability."
Arulmozhi returned to her village after some time and wanted to
continue her studies. But there was no school nearby and when she thought of getting the help of the neighbouring children, she could find none. She wanted to do something for improving her
condition. Her father had good general knowledge by reading newspapers and magazines. Arulmozhi also read them and improved her knowledge. She requested her mother to
re-model the verandah as a petty shop. She initially started selling guava and peppermints.
She came to know about getting
a bank loan for the physically handicapped. She applied to Indian Bank and was sanctioned some amount which she invested in improving her petty shop. She slowly converted it into a small provision shop.
In the mean time, when she was
14 years old, she lost her father who had been very supportive of her. Though she missed him a lot, she did not lose hope. On the contrary, the death of her father infused in her great confidence and courage. She realised that though her legs were useless, she had to stand on her own legs and she had to meet
her needs.
She came to know about the facilities and privileges offered by the government to the physically handicapped. She wrote a petition to the Department of Social Welfare. She wanted to meet the
block development officer (BDO) of Salem district. As she could not climb the staircase of the
BDO, her mother and brothers carried her in turns. Her repeated visits and requests for funds made the
BDO comply with her request. He promised to sanction her loan. But Arulmozhi was not lucky to get the loan from him because of
his sudden and untimely demise. The next BOO was not considerate enough. He suggested
that she meet the collector. Though she was able to meet him, she could not get any help from him.
Her next attempt was to meet Rangarajan Kumaramangalam,
who was then Member of Parliament. When he saw her plight while she was coming to see him, he was very much moved and immediately recommended for the sanction of
the loan. With that money she was able to improve the shop.
Her health was her prime thing. She came to know about the world's largest home for the disabled at Tenkasi. It is called Amar Seva Sangam. The organisers take very good care of the disabled and trained them for self-employment. She stayed there for two years and learnt many crafts like making
incense strick, camphor, candle, wire bag, etc. She collected information about the condition of the disabled, their sufferings, problems and prospects and made a thorough study of the handicapped. Then she returned to her native place and
reopened her provision shop. During her leisure hours, she made wire bags, sweaters, etc., without wasting any time.
Many disabled and able-bodied girls from the nearby areas came to Arulmozhi to learn these crafts. They benefited much out of their learning and training. They also helped Arulmozhi in selling her
products.
Apart from running the provision shop and producing
crafts, Arulmozhi concentrated on writing stories, essays and poems. She participated in literary competitions and won
prizes. She was honoured for her literary achievements by Tamil poet Suradha when he celebrated the centenary of the great poet Bharathidasan at
Salem.
Arulmozhi's poem was written on
a big banner and displayed at the entrance of her house. Vairamuthu, another great Tamil poet, was also impressed with her writings and honoured her. Whenever he goes to Salem, he does not miss the chance of meeting Arulmozhi in her house and reading her new writings. Ezhil Gnayiru, a literary association
at Salem, organised in 2001 a big felicitation in front of her house to honour her literary skill.
 Arulmozhi was keen on studies. Though she could not go to school or college after
class-2 in the Andhra Mahila Hospital school for handicapped children, she did not lose hope.
Through correspondence course she was able to complete her M.A. examination. She has collected all her stories, essays and poems and plans to publish
them as a book. She says that she runs the shop for her material needs as she definitely needs an income;
but her writings give her mental satisfaction; what can be appreciated more is the social service
she does.
She serves the needy people in many forms. The
quarry works in Salem have caused fire and smoke pollution and led to many unknown diseases. Many workers
fell victims. She gave a petition to the collector of Salem to follow some other method to avoid smoke pollution which had been injurious to life. She was successful in her agitation and brought
solutions to the problem. Her next mass movement was against the industrial waste pollution which
ruined the groundwater, and led to unknown diseases and slow poisoning of the workers and inhabitants of that area.
It is unimaginable to see a handicapped woman showing interest in social work instead of being selfish,
looking after only her essential needs. Her self-confidence and courage have resulted in getting good education and
finding self-employment. She does not stop there. Her interest in public welfare and literary work is highly commendable.
She wants to pursue her higher education with greater vigour. She stands as a unique individual who could face severe
challenges and turn them into opportunities.
Shanmugam can be contacted
@:
No: 54 Kamaraj Road,
Ramakrishna Nagar,
Alwar Thirunagar,
Chennai- 600 087.
Phone: 248 60 221
E-mail: shanmugam@azagi.com
(Extracted
from the book 'Hope is Life')
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