People of Value

Mumbai: Dinkar Shankar Veer

Mumbai

Chennai

Dinkar Shankar Veer

Dinkar Shankar Veer an autorickshaw driver, as his daily routine on Tuesday he started his autorickshaw and drove towards Ajay's (21) vocational training school to took him to his home that time he wasn't aware that in next 24 hours he will have to play too many relations in one -go. From Ajay's centre at Chamboor he picked Ajay and he reached National job development centre at sayan trambe road for picking up Namita, Namita is physically handicap girl.

Dinkar is doing this for both the children for past one year. Tuesday 28 July was a normal day as others but only difference was wheather, as it was not same as any other day. For Mumbai, Tuesday prooved as doomsday there was water everywhere till 5 feet as there was heavy rain everywhere. People were fighting to save their lives but in that situation one man Dinkar Shankar Veer was trying to save Ajay's and Namita's life.

Veer said that, that time he was just thinking to save children's life at any cost (and no doubt that he came out as a winner) he said that he turned his auto towards Kurla but there was a jam so he decided to enter in slum area by 11 o'clock in night he reached a safe place with both children. Children were hungary so he bought 3 Guvava for them but that was not sufficient for them so he bought biscuits from somewhere.

Next morning (Wednesday) he drove towards Bandra as Namita resides there. By 6 in the evening he reached her home and dropped her safely but from there it was difficult to reach Ville Parle as Ajay's home was there so he decided to took ajay to his place Maankhurd and he reached there by 11pm. On Thursday morning his wife gave Ajay bath and food to eat, and by afternoon 1pm he dropped Ajay at his home. Now, we can say that people like Dinkar Shankar Veer still exists who know the value of their promise as Dinkar kept his promise, which he made to Ajay's mother.

Source: Viklang bachchon ke liye farishta bana autorikshaw driver. Jansatta, New Delhi, 29 July 2005.

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S Kokilam

What does it take to put disability behind you and dream big? According to seventeen-year -old, S. Kokilam, born with a defective growth gene, it is all about making the right choice.

When counselling began for the physically challenged under the single window scheme in Anna University, his choice was clear: he would go for automobile engineering which would help him to develop a "walkmobile" for those like him. This year there were four times as many seats available as there were candidates: 1,114 seats for 264 candidates. As Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan remarked, these were good tiding as it proved that government initiatives such as the polio eradication drive paid off.

Obvious choice

Computer science, information technology and electronic and communication engineering (ECE) were obvious choice for many.

K. Kabilan from Coimbatore said this was because these courses needed little physical activity. Not surprisingly, all three first rank- holders- R. Madhavan from Coimbatore, M. Saravana from Dharmapuri and J. Prakash from Nayveli- Chose either ECE or computer science.

Most of the students had done their research. D. Malathi from Anna Nagar who had a stunted lower limb, wanted admission only to an institution that had ramps. She was disappointed to know that not many colleges met the requirement.

K. Uma Maheswari, a juvenile rheumatic patient, did not have to search long. With a cut-off of 263.63 marks out of 300, a seat in the university's Prestigious College of Engineering, Guindy, was here for the asking. She was one of the first to be allotted as seat.

In the end, all it takes is a yen for change. "So what if most collages do not have disabled- friendly infrastructure? As more and more of us get into engineering courses, we can from a pressure lobby that will bring in changes." S. Sivabdhran said.

Source: Disability doesn't deter him from dreaming big. The Hindu, Chennai, 28 July 2005.

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