Time and time again, I’ve
heard that I’m handicapped. For the last 12 years, this venom is being poured
in my ear unwittingly or willfully. Like a phoenix bird, I rose from ashes and
found myself to have paralysis. My left limbs were not working, my senses have
taken a toll, and even my cognitive power has also gone away. Eventually, I
succumbed to vitriolic remarks of others, some on my helplessness and others on
my coerciveness. A feeling of uselessness rippled over my paralyzed body. I was
left alone, and the only one to give me the company was my tears.
Wetting eyes and
emanating a stream of salty water from eyes is no solution to the ordeal which
I have to go through, and at this interval, all other miseries seemed
insignificant in front of this tribulation;
Grief has to be overcome now by exploiting my
disability for my benefit. I mustered the courage, strengthen the willpower,
and told me that this phase would also pass, so prepare for the future by
embracing new knowledge and techniques. This all was because of the motivation provided to me by my parents
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| My parents: My motivators |
It was the time when I’ve to prove my
usefulness and give significance to life. The physical constraints had already
put a question mark on my utility in life. Now I’ve to find the answer.
Like any luminous body,
life also has both umbra and penumbra. A newspaper tiding on the correspondence
B.Ed course helped me to leave the umbrous part and get into the zone of the
penumbra. However, now my financial
constraints were there to hinder my path. At this juncture, My parents along with my Masi (Mankunwar
Banthiya)
 |
| Masi and me |
and my friend |
| Mohit Yadav |
Mohit Yadav helped me financially, in transportation, and academically
respectively; I cleared the qualifying exam and eventually completed this
course.
Disability has still not
left me, and therefore, I’ve to source out something to make the best use of
it. God heard me and government of Madhya Pradesh announced MPTET exams with
age and cut-off relaxation for the handicap.
 |
| Harsh |
I was aided by my cousin
(Harsh Dhadda) with all formalities apropos to the exam and eventually in
writing it. Because of the lackadaisical attitude of the government, the
results were announced after a gap of 6-months. I was thrilled to hold merit in
both HSTT and MSTT.
The government again took
a volte-face and challenged the capability of postgraduates in biology courses
like Microbiology, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry in teaching higher secondary
classes. This stance was a real set-back for me and again shrouded me in the
cloud of darkness.
Selected candidates
initiated various processes to resolve this issue. More able ones gave
memorandums to several ministers and started several twitter movements and
agitations. Persons with locomotor disability confined themselves in actively
tweeting appertain to teacher’s recruitment and biology branches. They were
joined by others who were not able to travel to distant places due to their
problems. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that usage of social media was not a
choice but merely a constraint for them due to their inability to participate
in ground events.
There is a third lot too.
They refrain from participating in any event. They dale in indolence and remain
intoxicated in their daydreaming. These people are so unconcerned that it’s
unfathomable that a government job matters to them or not. The disability is lurking in them which is not visible to others.
Due to the pandemic, ground events is now a far-fetched possibility but to protect the issues of recruitment and justice to biology, not to go in cold, tweeting daily is a requirement of time.
I’ve always regretted my
handicap but, now I am uncertain about it. A doubt arises in the vitals of my
brain; Am I Handicap? Or who is really handicap?
