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| Shaji, Phoenix, Kottayam |
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For 18 years, polio-stricken Shaji had stayed in one room of his house with his incapacitated father, whose spinal cord was broken in an accident. After his father’s death, when he was 20 and the family faced the threat of extreme poverty, he decided to go out and do something. But securing assistance to buy crutches was his immediate need.
Son of journalist A.L.Abraham, he did not possess Rs.2000 to buy it. The relative accompanying him took him to Malayala Manorama office in town, where he met the Chief Editor K.M.Mathew and put forward his request. That paved the way for him to own the supporting legs, which he badly needed.
Today he manufactures quality invertors and electronic chokes. Like phoenix he had risen from the ashes of despair and so has named his firm ‘Phoenix’. He would like to improve his technology if there are distributors for his ware.
A man who has had no formal schooling, he handles 3 languages with ease. With no formal training in this technology, he is able to produce electrical goods. And it is then that he thanks God and remembers his father who used to play chess with him for hours together in their room. Did those movements on the chessboard sharpen his brain, he wonders.
The relatives, who earlier used to avoid him, now invite him for all social functions, for they know that he is no longer a liability.
Deepa from Pala, who had earlier worked with a rehabilitation centre for physically challenged, is his wife. While she acts as his limbs and is the shade for his life, music is his solace. A collector of hundreds of gazals and classical albums, he likens the experience of listening to a gasal as akin to the restoration of his bodily abilities.
Shaji and Deepa have 2 sons, Appukkuttan and Aswin.
Courtesy: V.R.Jyothish, Vanitha, September 1-14, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
