Thiruvananthapuram: Hearing disability has not deterred twin sisters, Lakshmi and Parvathy, from their journey in pursuit of excellence.Their self-learning, hardwork and perseverance finally paid off and they came out in flying colours in the Indian Engineering Services (IES) examination held by the Union Public Service Commission.

In the IES examination held for the Civil Engineering section, Parvathy got 74th rank and Lakshmi 75th rank. They are the only Keralites whose names have found a place in this particular list.

A holder of MTech, Lakshmy is currently working with the Irrigation Department. Parvathy, who is working as an Assistant Engineer with the Local Administration Department on a temporary basis, also got a job as an Assistant Engineer with the Central Public Works Department.

The younger children of Sitha, a junior superintendent with the PWD, and the late Aji Kuamr of Vaikundathil house at Thirumala TV Nagar here, Lakshmi and Parvathy had partial hearing ability from childhood.

Their brother Vishnu, now an assistant engineer with the PWD, also suffers from the same infirmity.

Till the age of five years, they studied in the special school, National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), situated at Akkulam near here. When they learnt to grasp the words and ideas from the lip movement of others, they resumed normal schooling with other students.

Following the footsteps of their brother, they joined the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET) for B.Tech after getting very good scores in State-level entrance examinations.

They have been writing the IES examinations since 2019. Due to hearing impairment, they did not join any IES coaching classes. They bought books and pursued self-study. Their pillar of support during preparation was brother Vishnu.

Vishnu married Aishwarya, an employee with the Rural Development Department, who also suffers from hearing impairment. Their child, three-year-old Ameya, doesn't have any hearing issues.