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| Saji Thomas, Thattakkuzha, Idukki |
Manimuthar near Kanya Kumari is the location of the Aviation Academy of Rtd. Wing Commander S.K.J.Nair. This lover of the sky maintains 8 smaller planes in his academy. One of them has been made and flown by Saji Thomas from Thattakkuzha in Idukki District. Does the achievement need the amplification that Saji is deaf and dumb from birth?
Domestic and personal difficulties dealt a full stop to his formal education by 7th standard. However, he had an uncanny fascination for machines and could make one after coming to know their working in a brief while.
It was during this time that a helicopter appeared in their village on its mission to serve rubber plantations nearby. Saji saw and touched these flying birds with uncommon enthusiasm. The pilots from Mumbai, whose address Saji had scrupulously obtained, would have never dreamed that one day the deaf and dumb boy would come to them for a lofty purpose…
Although the helicopter fired his imagination, Saji understood that the fire of hunger could be kept away only by some earning. TVs were then becoming popular. Without any training in handling them, Saji became an expert TV mechanic.
One day, Saji entrained for Mumbai. The pilots from Mumbai were pleasantly shocked by the persistence of Saji. They took him to the aviation firms in the city and arranged for his acquisition of technical knowledge and machine components.
After getting married to his neighbor Maria, Saji involved himself more deeply in his quest. He converted his front yard into a workshop and started his work. Alathough Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi promised help, he was soon assassinated.
It was then that he met S.K.J.Nair. On hearing about the passion of Saji, Nair was ready to help. The first plane that Saji built had some shortcomings and could not fly. But an Engineering College acquired it for their academic demonstration.
His second creation was a working plane which Nair flew at Thodupuzha. It was then that the world came to know the talent of this silent one.
Courtesy: V.R.Jyothish (text), Vanitha, January 1-14, 2015
