Jayakodi and Jayakumar
Jayakodi is the eldest daughter of Velayudham, who was engaged in a small business in Malleswaram in
Bangalore. She has two younger brothers and one younger sister. She went to
school and took care of the younger ones. But, unfortunately, her brother Jayakumar was affected by polio when he was one-and-a-half years old. When the
father
saw the sufferings of Jayakumar, he gave all preventive medicines to other children to save them from the evil hands of polio.
Velayudham had a bigger shock when his eldest daughter had severe
fever and polio attack and became disabled like her younger brother. Those who pitied the young boy started cursing Jayakodi and Jayakumar when they were affected by polio saying that both the children were 'cursed' and their house was haunted one.
They went to the extent of boycotting the family of Velayudham totally. They were foolish enough to utter that the
presence of the two children would cause disability to other children and so they should not be allowed to go out of their house any longer.
Though the family was isolated and faced a lot of insults and teasing, they did not lose hope. The parents wanted to
educate their handicapped children along with the able-bodied ones. They were admitted to a school and the father and mother carried the son and daughter respectively to school everyday.
Velayudham was very broad minded and wanted to expose his children, especially the handicapped, to reality. They were taken wherever there was competition,
sports, swimming, etc. He made them meet the players and participants and talk to them to infuse confidence in them. Jayakodi and Jayakumar pulled themselves together and decided to do something different in their life.
As their father was the only earning member and whatever he earned and saved was spent in treatment for the two children, the family suffered a lot. So their mother also earned some amount by making some
handicrafts.
Jayakodi passed out of school and with great difficulty joined a women's college in Bangalore. As classes were held in different floors, she found it difficult to climb up the staircases often. She made requests to her classmates to carry her to different classes. But as it became a regular affair, her classmates staged an agitation for her so that the classes would thereafter be held in the ground floor itself. It shows the love and concern her classmates had for
Jayakodi.
She completed her B.Com degree and diploma in computer science. She registered in the employment exchange and applied for various posts advertised in newspapers. She also attend many interviews.
But no one wanted to give her any appointment stating that her output would be less than the normal person. In three years, she had spent nearly Rs 10,000 in attending interviews, buying and
sending applications to various companies.
Reluctantly, she decided to continue her education. Fortunately, at that moment she got a job in a service organisation called Mobility India.
The nature of job was somewhat different. Jayakodi had to receive the disabled who come to their organisation and listen to their life history, problems, requirements and try to offer amicable solutions. This experience totally changed the outlook of Jayakodi. After hearing their problems, she felt that her problem was comparatively smaller. But she was unhappy to know that many people are unaware of the mental sufferings of the handicapped.
She had a bitter experience when her father decided to give her younger sister in marriage. But when alliances came and they knew that the elder sister and younger brother of the girl were handicapped, they ran away in distress and superstition that the child to be born to the girl would also be a handicapped one.
Jayakodi did not know how to educate the ignorant mob. She decided to leave the house with Jayakumar so that they would not be obstacles in the life of their brothers and sisters. But her sister told her that she did not want to lose the brother and sister in the process of her marriage; even if she got married hiding the facts about the disabled, some day, if her new relatives, including her husband, came to know of it, her problems would multiply and she would be nowhere. Hence, she felt that it would be better to remain unmarried till an understanding person came forward to marry her. Jayakodi was pleased to know the outlook of her sister.
Jayakumar's sufferings were in no way lesser than that of Jayakodi. He passed out of school successfully and wanted to join electronic
engineering. He applied for it and went for the interview. Instead of giving a seat in the course of his choice, they offered him electrical engineering. When he explained to them that it would be difficult for him to do electrical as it warranted climbing ladders, etc., and pleaded with them to give an electronic seat, they heartlessly showed him to the door.
He tried in private colleges where he was asked to pay a donation of Rs 40,000. He was asked to get the community certificate also. When he got it from the municipality, they again drove him to get it from the tahsildar. His father invaded the office of the tahsildar for 20 times in vain. Ultimately, he had to go to the court to get the certificate. In this long-drawn process, by the time Jayakumar entered college, it was January. He ought to have joined in June. The delay in admission caused extra problems for him.
The ordeals did not end there. Commuting to college from home became a great problem. He had to travel in two buses for 50 km and the distance from home to bus stand was nearly 1 km.
The bus came only thrice a day and it never stopped at the stop. Passengers had to get into a running bus. lf in spite of all this Jayakumar got into the bus, there would not be any seat available for him.
Jayakumar travelled one day and found it very tiresome to go to college. There was no water and toilet facilities for students as it was a new college in a forsaken place. Most of the students left the college in the afternoon as they exhausted the water bottles they had brought in the morning. It was a very dry and unhygienic place. Jayakumar returned home and explained the whole thing to his father.
With all these sufferings, he had to manage the six months portions too. He could not go alone to college the next day and went with his father who understood the plight of Jayakumar. They met the principal and explained the conditions to him. The principal was moved by his predicament and went to the ground floor and arranged to put a cot for him in a small room where they had kept unwanted things.
It was planned that either his father or mother would come in the
morning and evening with food and water for Jayakumar and he had to manage with it. He was ashamed to say that he abstained from taking bath and going to toilet as there were no such facilities and water was a scarce commodity in the college.
He feels sorry for the inadequate facilities for the handicapped in toilets, buses and public places. In almost all places in India no one bothers to see whether the disabled are given minimum facilities at least. He completed his professional course and got his diploma in electronics.
He was lucky enough to get the post of a receptionist in the service organisation called Mobility India. He meets many foreigners from various countries and Indians from many states. He is able to gather much information about the people and places.
He wants to continue his education, go abroad and earn more, come back to India and spend it for the welfare of the handicapped. His earlier sufferings are still fresh in his memory and he does not want his fellow beings to undergo the same ordeals. He pleads to the government and individuals to show care and concern, not pity, so that they would develop some confidence in themselves. Though their legs remain useless, they want to stand on their own feet. Everyone should do all possible things to help them achieve their goal.
Shanmugam can be contacted
@:
No: 54 Kamaraj Road,
Ramakrishna Nagar,
Alwar Thirunagar,
Chennai- 600 087.
Phone: 248 60 221
E-mail: shanmugam@azagi.com
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(Extracted
from the book 'Hope is Life')
