People of Value

New Delhi

Pranav Lal - His willpower has taken him so far...

"Nothing is impossible to a willing mind," is what Pranav Lal firmly believes. Pranav, who was born blind, works at the Mahindra Special Services Group, Kandivali, as an information security consultant and has won the best blind employee award from the National Association for the Blind.

Pranav suffers from a condition known as retinopathy of prematurity (a condition wherein the retina is detached from the optic nerves). Pranav was born in 1979 in Kuwait. Initially, he was introduced to audio books, but later, he also started learning Braille. When he was in second grade, the Lal family shifted to Muscat. There, Pranav went to the Indian School from 1986 to 1994. When the family shifted back to India, Pranav joined the Apeejay School in New Delhi.

Pranav completed his graduation in B.Com (H) from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University, in 1999. In 2002, he finished his MBA from the Indian Management Institute.

He says that he is now accustomed to the fact that he is blind. Reminiscing about his school days, he recounts how he used to take the help of flex curves, which could be molded into any shape to draw geometrical figures. He used rulers with attached magnets. He even constructed physics and chemistry laboratories in his house to practice the lessons that were taught in school.

Pranav, these days, is dependent mostly on a standard laptop, which helps him with his office work. The laptop and his PC are loaded a special software, which combines speech and print, and makes the input audible. He can perceive images through sound. The special software "The Voice" converts images to sound. If there is any object to his left, he can hear it in his left ear. He explained that the volume represented the object, the louder it was, the brighter the object.

In 2000, he visited the Czech Republic in Eastern Europe to represent India at the Abilities Olympics, which showcases the abilities of the blind. He bagged the Special Excellence Award. He is also a volunteer at Daisy Consultants which is a group specialized in talking books. He is also a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Blind, Delhi.

He says that he faces no problems and the main factor behind his success is his will power and his desire to evolve. The main factor in the road to progress is the need to remove resistance to change, especially when it is for the betterment of the self.

Source: Disabled man's grit wins him accolades. Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, 2 April 2006.