My road accident and inspiration from
Shivani Guptha
I am indebted to Shivani Guptha, a wheelchair confined lady, who gave me new energy to my life in May 2007.
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Tamil translation part 1
Friends, On 12th April 2007 at 9.30pm I met with a road accident. I had two fractures, one on my right leg and another on my right hand.
I have a six inch steel or alloy implant in my right thigh even today. I was lucky enough to get immediate medical attention. However, I was bed ridden for 3 months and under house confinement for another 5 months.
Tamil translation part 1
Friends, On 12th April 2007 at 9.30pm I met with a road accident. I had two fractures, one on my right leg and another on my right hand.
Though I was taken care of excellently by my family, I was very dejected. Every 6 weeks Dr.G.Premnath who did the implant said, "YOUR ARE OLD HENCE HEALING WILL BE SLOW, YOU NEED 6 MORE WEEKS." But indirectly I understood eventually I will be able to walk at least within a year.
Then after about 30 days in bed, one day, I read about a 38 year old lady Shivani Guptha, then aged about in my favourite newspaper, THE HINDU. I was stunned to know about her reality.
After a road accident and a spinal cord injury, she had been spending her life with a wheelchair for 16 years i.e. since her age of 22 years. My God, I can't imagine that life. I am far better, after a year, I will be back to normal, I thought.
She had studied civil engineering and was converting public buildings to have access to disabled persons. To put in other words, she was removing steps from public buildings and constructing slope or ramps in that place.
I wrote a post card to her and even got a reply from her.
AFTER THAT I NEVER GOT
MY MENTAL ENERGY
BELOW 95% IN MY LIFE.
Then after about 30 days in bed, one day, I read about a 38 year old lady Shivani Guptha, then aged about in my favourite newspaper, THE HINDU. I was stunned to know about her reality.
After a road accident and a spinal cord injury, she had been spending her life with a wheelchair for 16 years i.e. since her age of 22 years. My God, I can't imagine that life. I am far better, after a year, I will be back to normal, I thought.
She had studied civil engineering and was converting public buildings to have access to disabled persons. To put in other words, she was removing steps from public buildings and constructing slope or ramps in that place.
I wrote a post card to her and even got a reply from her.
AFTER THAT I NEVER GOT
MY MENTAL ENERGY
BELOW 95% IN MY LIFE.
Part 2 -
Then I asked my family members to take out the cups that I had won in my college sports activities like chess and table tennis.
Then I asked them to wash them with tamarind. Previously it was very dully. But now after a wash, they were glowing like
gold.
Then I started reading positive thinking books like, MANASE, RELAX PLEASE.
...which said, "Even cups when put into disuse fade after sometime, imagine about your fragile mind. Get a notebook and write about all cherishable or happy happenings in your life. Suddenly, you will feel filled with energy."
Yes, I did that.
I asked my mom to get be a long sized ruled notebook, and wrote TWO BOOKS yet to be published. One titled, "Some important songs from Thirukural and my comments linking it to modern psychology" and another titled, "Tamil: Childcare Tips to Parents - Volume 2" .... (Volume 1, "குழந்தை வளர்பபிற்கு சில உதவித்துளிகள்" already released by Kannadasan Pathipagam, Chennai. in December 2002).
Next 7 months, I was bubbling with enthusiasm. My energy level never came down thanks to Shivani Guptha.
Part 3 -
My wife's grand mom's visit
While in bed, I remember, the grand mother of my wife who was the age of my mom, came to see me in bed. I could imagine, like a cinema director, that she was about to open her mouth and shower pitiful words( opparei ) on me. The sentences may start like, "Oh, my grand son in law, you are already handicapped. In spite of that we gave our grand daughter in marriage to you.. Now, your are severely disabled with a road accident ...."
But before she could open her mouth and utter them, I started talking enthusiastically for 30 minutes to 45 minutes -- non stop.
While leaving my house, she should have told, "OH, I THOUGHT OF CONSOLING THIS GUY. BUT HE SEEMS TO BE READ TO DELIVERY MOTIVATION LECTURERS RIGHT NOW TO ANYONE IN ICU".
Part 4
=॥=॥=॥
ABOUT SHIVANI GUPTHA
from a web site :
=॥=॥=॥
Two accidents, a wheelchair and a National award from APJ Abdul Kalam: Shivani Gupta’s heroic tale
*** ***
But soon, Shivani saw that she could channelize her need to still be part of the world, into a different hobby.
“I started painting. My hands were paralyzed, so by moving them in this light manoeuvers, it proved to be therapeutic. Soon, I started selling my hand painted art. Wherever I would hear of exhibitions, melas and events, I would show up with my table and collection,” she said.
“I knew for a fact that I wasn’t the best painter – so I always had this dilemma. Were people purchasing my stuff because it was good, or merely because I was disabled? I couldn’t have lived with the answer if it was the latter, so even before I could find out, I decided to try my hand at something else.”
*** ***
AccessAbility
*** ***
With a whole list of tangible solutions, now, Shivani could offer not only a first person’s perspective on disability and the needs that the disabled have – she also helped an organization with well-researched and expert ideas to implement accessibility mechanisms.
Under the name AccessAbility, she kicked off in 2006. “Our concentrated work on accessibility engaged in all kinds of things. Be it the private sector, hospitality, retail, people wanting to employ disable people, educational institutes – we gave them the entire plan of how they could make their infrastructure and practices disabled-friendly.”
Source :
https://yourstory.com/2015/10/shivani-gupta/
Partly Written and Partly Collected by
EZHILARASAN VENKATACHALAM
GLOBAL TAMIL BASED ENGLISH TRAINER
SALEM, SOUTH INDIA.
ABOUT SHIVANI GUPTHA
from a web site :
=॥=॥=॥
Two accidents, a wheelchair and a National award from APJ Abdul Kalam: Shivani Gupta’s heroic tale
*** ***
But soon, Shivani saw that she could channelize her need to still be part of the world, into a different hobby.
“I started painting. My hands were paralyzed, so by moving them in this light manoeuvers, it proved to be therapeutic. Soon, I started selling my hand painted art. Wherever I would hear of exhibitions, melas and events, I would show up with my table and collection,” she said.
“I knew for a fact that I wasn’t the best painter – so I always had this dilemma. Were people purchasing my stuff because it was good, or merely because I was disabled? I couldn’t have lived with the answer if it was the latter, so even before I could find out, I decided to try my hand at something else.”
*** ***
AccessAbility
*** ***
With a whole list of tangible solutions, now, Shivani could offer not only a first person’s perspective on disability and the needs that the disabled have – she also helped an organization with well-researched and expert ideas to implement accessibility mechanisms.
Under the name AccessAbility, she kicked off in 2006. “Our concentrated work on accessibility engaged in all kinds of things. Be it the private sector, hospitality, retail, people wanting to employ disable people, educational institutes – we gave them the entire plan of how they could make their infrastructure and practices disabled-friendly.”
Source :
https://yourstory.com/2015/10/shivani-gupta/
Partly Written and Partly Collected by
EZHILARASAN VENKATACHALAM
GLOBAL TAMIL BASED ENGLISH TRAINER
SALEM, SOUTH INDIA.
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