A leader, in the making – Swarnalakshmi Raviduraikannu

“Mam, would you mind using the word “Progeny”? Progeny not only means children, but offspring of animals, plants and anything alive. My suggestion to use this word was well received when I spoke on Inclusive Education for children with disabilities, in the UN last year (April 2016). And inclusiveness is a broader term and my understanding of the same is evolving”. 

The above is the reply of 18 year old Swarnalakshmi, to my question on inclusiveness, who has represented India for the fourth time in the UN and who is currently pursuing her second year B.A Political Science in MCC Chennai. She is also the PM of Inclusive National Children’s Parliament (INCP) and member of Youth Parliament, which is in its Council stage.

For Swarnalakshmi, inclusiveness is not a mere term, but a journey of several years. Her first seed for inclusiveness started from her. “Disabilities cannot retard me in any way. I always think “What next?” in any situation. And I never want to be viewed special or pitied for being visually challenged”. Her self-esteem exudes as she talks.

2014, was a year of struggle for her. She wanted to pursue her studies taking political science in a main stream school. But the then CM of Pondicherry would rather make any other school of her choice a special one. She politely but firmly declined the offer.

She said, “With 92% marks in my 10^th Standard, I decided to choose Political Science for further studies. But getting admission in the main stream school was not easy. Can a person with disability, be prevented from doing mainstream education? While speaking to the CM, I mentioned about the law in the constitution that allows children with disabilities to have mainstream education. This strengthened my question, “WHY no inclusion?” Finally her wish was fulfilled.

Her leadership travels to the UN started off with zest, after she was rejected in the Mauritius Common Wealth Interview, in 2012. Her honest answer to the question, what if she was not given a seat while she was travelling in a bus, made her lose the opportunity. The answer was “No difference”, true to her conscience.  She might have failed to impress the judges, but not her mom, Lakshmi Devi, who foresaw, a big opportunity. And her mom was right! Starting from 2013 till last year she had been the special invitee to the UN, to give talks on inclusive education. Swarnalakshmi relates this incident as one that turned over a new leaf in her life. It gave a larger perspective of her life.

Public speaking is an art that requires good language and communication skills. While Swarnalakshmi attributes her language skills to her father Raviduraikannu, she attributes her confidence to her mother. As part of Children Parliament and the Youth Parliament council, she and her team have addressed various social issues.

“Thanks to Father Edwin, I was able to travel from concepts to reality, when he brought to my attention about a labour case concerning child Bhavani from Dharmapuri. For the first time I became aware of the severity of ill-treatment meted out to women and children. Through our child parliament we extricated her from her perilous state and today she attends conferences in Delhi. Also we enabled her mother to get a Ration card, by giving a petition to an eminent person and thus the curtain went down on her 13 years of prolonged ordeal”.

She replied, “Confidence and leadership“, when I asked her to define herself succinctly. But in my opinion I look up on her as one having, Integrity of thought, speech and action. Also this achiever encourages women to enter politics without being subservient to oppressive powers. As our conversation went on, I understood she is a multi talented personality. Music has been a fascination for her which many of the Lit The Light members are aware of. Her list continues with Chess, keyboard and swimming too. 

Here is the list of awards which are no doubt, feathers on her already embellished cap.

Year	Award	Awarded by
2013	Young Achiever	Chutti Vikatan
	Little Phoenix
2014	Child Leader	Mugil Social Welfare
	Malala Award
2015	Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award
	Living Hellen Keller	Lion’s club
	Mega Women’s Achiever Award	Mega TV

Watching a plant grow is more fascinating than the plant itself, because, you get to see many of the beautiful sunshine moments.

An hour long interview with SwarnaLakshmi was truly rewarding and the above aptly describes my spirits in knowing a real leader getting shaped, true to the title of this article.

I wish her all the best on behalf of Lit The Light, in all her endeavors, including improving her water intake and going to bed early, that she considers as her areas of improvement!

 Below are few links on Children Parliament and Swarnalakshmi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCWND7uKtjI – UN talk 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUK3iViK0hI – Interview to Sun TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9C2j9LvHD0 – RedPix Interview

http://blog.kindernothilfe.org/de/archives/3403 - I too have a dream

http://www.childrenparliament.in/ - About Children Parliament

Article by Anuradha

Looking for an Inspiration? Here is a Role model - Mr.Mahendran

Winners Never Quit..Quitters Never Win!!!

You might have heard and also read about so many differently abled heroes. Here’s another one, to be inspired. Mr.V. Mahendran, born on April 7^th, 1984, in Thiraviyanagar, a village, near Thenkasi, Thirunelveli district, Tamilnadu for Sri.S.Vellaisamy & Selvi, the parents. His parents were farmers. This 34 yrs old inspiring cricket player has played in South Zone (Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala) tournaments representing Tamilnadu over 10 yrs ago. He has achieved several awards for his hard work and dedication for cricket under visually challenged, para sports category. 

Unfortunately, during the years he was on the field as a player, there wasn’t much support or awareness about the Visually Challenged Cricket, because of which there wasn’t much adequate aid from the Government for the game.  These unsupportive situations made way for the formation of Tamilnadu Cricket Association for Visually Challenged, on November 24^th, 2009 by Mr. Mahendran and few of his friends. 

TN Cricket Association is supported by the sponsors and the well-wishers. There are 16 registered teams under this association.  State level tournaments are conducted on regular basis and appropriate support are given to the players to fare well in the game and also in their career through this game.  Many players got selected to play National level, and have won several rewards for the same. 

Mr. Mahendran,General Secretary of the Tamilnadu Cricket Association for Visually challenged, is married to Mrs. Rajarajeswari, and has 2 wonderful kids, a son and a daughter. He is currently working as an English teacher, at Govt. Higher Secondary School, Vijayakarisal kulam, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu, where he teaches till 10^th standard.  He is not only into cricket, but also a 9 times state level champion in Chess. 

Mahendran’s appeal to our society and the Government is to get more involved in Visually Challenged Cricket and support the players by sponsoring and appreciating their talents and hardwork.  There are other states in India, like Gujarat, which supports Visually Challenged Cricket. For our Tamilnadu, let’s join with the association in bringing more awareness towards the sports for differently abled.  

Lets all remember

Disability is not Inability!!! 

Article by Chandra

Jothy - The Rising Nightingale

16 years old Jothy would have been just one another human being if her mother, Mrs. Kalaiselvi had not noticed the blessing amidst her disability. Jothy, a visually challenged and autistic child was sent out of school as she was “not like everyone”. But her mother noticed that she possessed a talent beyond all her disability. When I asked her how did she find out that she has got an innate sense of music, she says “she was never able to sit in a place even for 5 minutes except when she was making sounds out of vessels”. This made Mrs. Kalaiselvi realize that she has got some extraordinary music skill which should be addressed. During our conversation she explained, “It was very difficult to make her sit in a place even for a while. This was the main reason why she was not taken in any schools”. Seeing this Mrs. Kalaiselvi started to probe further and found out that after 10^th standard she can take up diploma courses directly and enrolled her in Government Music College, Adyar for Diploma in vocal. The teachers in the college were really moved by her ‘Swara knowledge’ and she is now in the final year of the course. Though she was not able to read, write and understand some concepts in the normal text books she performed extremely well in college. “Highly reputed people in the industry like Ananth vaidhyanath sir were moved by her Swara Knowledge” the lovely mother happily said. Her mother helps her to prepare for the theory part of the course and Jothy plays the instrument all by herself. Apart from this she learns Carnatic music from AS Murali, who is a professor in Kalakshetra. When asked about future plan she has for Jothy, she says she is also currently pursuing DMT, a one year diploma course that would give her the knowledge of how to teach music at college level. My next plan is to enroll her in BA Violin and she says “It’s very important to equip her in all the ways to sustain in this highly competitive industry”. Her unusually stunning knowledge of swara attracts her chance to meet prodigies in the industry.

When the whole world saw what she can’t do, this mother saw beyond that and spotted the skill and she has built her whole dream around this kid. It was really difficult for me to manage her in the earlier days as she could not understand certain things a child & a girl of that age would understand. But after going to Music College, she got to interact with more people which has changed her a lot. Her communication has increased, her behavior has matured says Mrs. Kalaiselvi. During our entire conversation, I was really moved by this mother’s love and whose sole dream is to build a future for her kid. I am eagerly waiting for Jothy’s debut in G V Prakash Kumar’s next movie as he has posted in his Facebook page. 

Listen to her wonderful rendition here Kannamma cover song

Article by Sree Mahalakshmi

Muthuselvi - Empowered to empower

We all have certain common notions of what a disabled person’s mind set is, what their expectations are, what do they expect from our society. But have you ever thought of what do they look forward to from the society? Are we really aware of what they think of the way we move with them? If you would have asked me all the above questions before I talked to Ms. Muthuselvi, my answer would have been Yes like most of yours, but not anymore. It’s only after talking to her I realized that whatever we think are presumptions and they are not true.

Muthuselvi, basically a B.L (Hons) graduate from Ambedkar law University, Chennai is currently the manager of Allahabad bank T-nagar branch, Chennai. As alumni of Little flower Convent, Chennai       she owes her success to her parents and her School. In addition to conventional education, the school has also taken mobility classes, Road crossing and cooking classes which helped them to operate independently. “Every Visually challenged person should be independent, especially ladies” she says. “To effect that they should be a technology literate. Being familiar to the key board softwares such as JAWS (Job Access With Speech), NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) would help them to a greater extent. Talk back in android devices is the another technology they should be aware of” she added.

She is also a committee member of the All India confederation of the Blind(AICB) since 2011, an NGO headed by Mr.J.L.Kaul a Padmasri awardee based out of Delhi which provides legal literacy to the VCs. They conduct leadership workshops and workshops for advocating sexual right to empower the VCs. She handles the south zone of AICB which consists of 5 affiliated branches where she handles various projects and website maintenance. Her notable projects in AICB include coordinating the printing of VC friendly Magazines in which they print Mangayar malar and Chutti vigadan in Braille format. The NGO also works to get the appropriate rights and reservations for the VCs. Muthuselvi has worked for one such event where they got the 1% job reservation for VCs out of 3% in Pandian Grama Bank prior to which the bank had reservation for other disabilities such as orthopedics but not VCs. She also represented India in United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). For her notable works she was awarded the Women Achiever Award on March’2016 on the eve of women’s day by the organization name Sakhi Mandal Sahayog and was honoured by the Governor of Tamilnadu. 

When I asked her about her work place and whether her colleagues are helpful “Yes, they are helpful. But more than help I expect the people around me to treat me equally. It is not that we are always in need of help. We are not passive receivers. We are empowered as well. Sometimes we can also help others as well, share knowledge and many such things” she responded. She continued “Society always has a preconceived notion about the people with disabilities. Once when I was travelling to Kerala for a workshop, I was asked in train if I am Vikom Vijayalakshmi, A popular Singer from Kerala who is a Visually Challenged person too. I was asked this not just by one but by a couple of people. Initially I was cool and answered No, I am not. But when many such people asked the same, I asked them back if they have actually seen Vikom Vijayalakshmi for which they answered no. This is the situation in our society. Because we are blind they assume themselves that we can be only in certain professions like singing and cannot hold other occupations. There were also situations in which we were humiliated by the non-disabled people just because we are blind. All these preconceived notions should be gone and people should realize that are independent as well.” The heart reckoning part of this is that even the educated ones behave in such a way to them. 

Our society is stereotyped to a great extent out of which some are really hurting a group of people. Becoming a developed and educated nation doesn’t revolve only around economy and technology of the country but also in the quality of thoughts of the people and the way they treat their fellow beings. How friendly we make this society for them in terms of moving around in the roads, shops and accessibility to technology by themselves without having to depend on others to a greater extent shows our real concern for them. Treating the people with a disability as equally as non-disabled is the best gratitude non-disabled can express to the almighty. 

“To break the stereotypes non-disabled people should also be educated about the disabilities” we both unanimously accepted.  

Aleast after reading this will each of us break the common preconceived notions we held so far about a person with disability?  

Team Lit the Light thank Muthuselvi for her time and wish her the best for her endeavors.

Article by Sree Mahalakshmi

Let our Eyes live to see Infinity and Beyond!

Netram Pradhanam Servendriyanam
(Translation: Eyes are the precious gift given to the humans by the Almighty)

Eyes are very valuable part of a human being, which should not be wasted by burning or burying the body after death. There is a choice to make while we live, and that is donating our eyes. Eye donation is donating the eyes after a person’s death. Donation of the eyes gives sight to TWO Corneally blind people, enabling them to see this beautiful world filled with colors through our sight! 

Ever wondered how life would be for the blind? A world of unrelenting darkness! Lucky are those who have the gift of vision but not everyone is equally fortunate. Every year thousands of people are losing their vision due to various factors - but fortunately many of them have a second shot at regaining it, thanks to the cutting-edge corneal transplant procedures. However, surgery alone is not the solution!

Age does not matter while making this precious donation. Person suffering from Diabetics, Hypertension, Systemic disorders like Asthma and Tuberculosis CAN ALSO donate their eyes. Cataract surgery patient can also be a happy donor. Above all, all Religions endorse the practice of eye donations and its one great valuable service a person can do in his/her life. Eye donation is a pure act of charity for the benefit of society.

In India, alone 4.6 million people are estimated with corneal blindness, which are curable only through corneal transplantation that is made possible mostly via eye donation program. The sad fact is that 75% of these cases are of preventable blindness, but thanks to the nation's acute shortage of donors, most of the cases either go untreated or inadequately treated. A meager 25000 corneas are collected for transplants against the annual demand of 2,50,000.  Currently, India retrieves corneas from less than 0.5 percent of all deaths. If we could increase it to 1 percent, most of our needs would be met.

By donating your sight, you give vision to the society and make it more meaningful and colorful....doesn't this give you a tremendous satisfaction? So, take the pledge, donate your eyes and become a part of the god's own work!

To pledge your eyes or the eyes of any deceased loved one, go to the nearest eye bank and ask for a pledge form or you can register and pledge online too. Fill this form with the correct contact details, get it signed by at least two witnesses and submit it back to the eye bank near to you. Once you have done that, the eye bank will issue a donor card with their particulars on it. Carry this card with you all the times or keep it in a place where any family member can access it. You must also let your family know that you wish to be an eye-donor, because without their consent, the donation won't proceed. At the time of death, the family or friends may inform the concerned eye bank. There is no maximum age limit for eye donation. Even a person with poor vision, or previous history of eye surgery can become a donor.

Vision is the most precious gift god has ever given to mankind. So, don't turn a blind eye to this noble cause and help someone see the world. Pledge Now! I am a registered DONOR…Are you?

Article by Chandra

Manoharan- A man beyond everyone's Vision

Sozhipalayam- A place that is not much heard previously. But not anymore. A person named "Manoharan" from this little village emerged to grab a Bronze medal at "Commonwealth Games" conducted at Port Elizabeth, South Africa in the year 2016. The following words will definitely make you raise your eyebrows. Manoharan failed in his Tenth standard due to some difficulties. As the old adage goes "Failures are stepping stones for your success", it was after that moment when his life stepped into the staircase of success. When his life was in question mark, he joined in a plastic company as a Coolie. There was a Karate Class in a distance of about one and a half kilometers. He joined the Judo class and his first coach was Marimuthu. After joining the Judo class, his concentration power had tremendously increased. He got trained for about seven years at "Judo Bodhidharma Gurukulam". As time changed, he became a coach for Dr.Anantharaman. Through Anantharaman, he got introduced to Uma Shankar, a Judo coach at Sports Development Authority of Tamilnadu. After three years of rigorous hardwork and training, the following table lists the feathers added to his cap.

Game	Place	Medals won
World Judo Championship 2011-2012	Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh	Silver
World Judo Championship 2012-2013	Delhi	Silver
World Judo Championship 2013-2014	Delhi	Gold
International Asian Para Games 2013-2014	South Korea	Bronze
World Judo Championship 2015	Delhi	Gold
World Judo Championship 2016	Uttar Pradesh	Gold
Commonwealth Games 2016	Port Elizabeth, South Africa	Bronze

 Manoharan claims "Bruce Lee" as his inspiration. He proudly states that "I stood as an Indian Player in the stage of Commonwealth games only because of Lit The Light". He dedicates the award and appreciation to his Master , friends and Lit the Light.  Not only does he stop here, his further aim is to participate in Olympics. His long term goal is to open a Sports Academy for Blind people, so that every talented blind person shines in the Universe. Lit the Light wishes him great success. Kudos to your efforts!! He is truly an inspiration to every soul!

Article by Sujatha

Bala Nagendran - Man of Perseverance

Sri. Bala Nagendran, IAS is born visually challenged. His mother is a home maker, father was in Indian army and later worked for United India Insurance company, his elder brother works for United India Insurance as well and younger brother placed in a private firm.

When his father was working for Indian Army, he met a visually impaired person who introduced him to Little Flower convent, which is dedicated school for educating visually challenged kids and thus Bala Nagendran got enrolled in Little Flower Convent. There started his journey in schooling. He was basically a very aspirant child and used to be curious, asking lots of questions to his teachers, which in turn encouraged the teachers to attend to hidden needs. Teachers also advised his parents to never stop his education.

He finished his preliminary studies at Little Flower convent and moved to St. Louis at Adyar for his further school studies, where he completed his 10th standard.  On completion of that, he did a collaborative program at Ramakrishna Mission school at T.Nagar for completing his 12th standard.  He finished his under graduation in Bachelors  of Commerce (BCom) at Loyola College.

In 2010, his life took a new turn, when he joined Manidha Neyam, an organization that helps visually challenged people to prepare for IAS (Indian Administrative Services) coaching. It’s so truly said “Constant dripping hollows out a stone.”  His constant search for knowledge was identified  by his teacher, Ms. Catherine, when he was as young as 6yrs old. She got inspired by his questions and in turn encouraged and aspired him to be an IAS officer, for his abundant knowledge. She fed his inquisitive mind with details about IAS and its significance. And finally it is Manidha Neyem which helped him achieve his goals to become an IAS officer.

He has been with that organization since 2010 and on his fifth attempt, he cleared the IAS exams, which wasn’t an easy one.  At the age of 26, and hurdles like visual impairment, it is an applauding achievement indeed. Inspite of having undergone so many hardships, he considers himself to be lucky technologically, since he has access to Computer equipped screen reader called JAWS – Job access with speech. This software helped him with browsing the internet and he is proficient with Braille too. He feels that he is fortunate to be surrounded with inspiring people like teachers, professors, parents and close friends, who were there at the time of his need.

An important role model he mentions is Dr. Roman Saini (He is an Indian educator, motivational speaker and was one of the youngest IAS officers, before he resigned. Saini was previously posted as Asst Collector in Madhya Pradesh.)  who started online free coaching classes for IAS preparation for under privileged. He also values Mr. Armstrong, who laid a 100km road in Thailand without the help from the Government. These two great people have influenced his life to a greater extent.

Bala Nagendran has specialized in Sociology and Public Administration, his specialization in IAS being Public Administration. When asked about his interest in Public administration, he said his focus is on decentralization of education, which plays a main role in eradication of poverty.

He is extremely grateful to that unknown person who guided his father to the little flower convent, which has helped him achieve his goals and made his dreams come true. He also advises that there are no short cuts to success and never to lose faith. He also wants to emphasize that confidence is very important to achieve goals and particularly self-confidence, which is believing in yourself. He also advices people like him with disabilities, that anything can be achieved with persistence, confidence and most of all faith.

Now, on his personal side, he loves books and he spends his spare time reading books, like fiction and non-fiction. He plays chess online with his friends, writes about social issues in Facebook and other social media websites. He used to play keyboard until he was 7yrs old, then he had to quit to focus more on studies.

When asked him about his contact with Lit the Light, he said it was through WhatsApp, Mr. Barath contacted him. He wasn’t using mobile phone from 2013 and started using again from May, 2016.

When asked about what is missing or what can fill the gaps for a visually challenged person, he says social inclusion and rights based approach. Education, marriage, kids, adoption are something which he considers that visually challenged people should not fight for. He also mentions that there should be a social change where everybody should be included equally. He is also happy to see that visually impaired people working in banking sectors, and Robotics, etc, which is very inspiring for the future generations.

We hereby thank Mr. Bala Nagendran, IAS for his time for the Lit The Light, and thanking the Lit the Light organization for an opportunity to meet an inspiring person like him. We wish him all the best in all his future endeavors and hope to see more such people who could be role models for the society.

Article by Chandra