Back in 1997, when I was waiting for my U.S Visa, my friend's dad who retired as the accountant general of Kerala told me, "James, if you can make a living in your own country it's always better. No matter how much you achieve abroad, you will only be like an ant walking on the Neendakara bridge." That time I didn't even know where Neendakara Bridge was but the bridge weighed on my mind every time I passed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or the Tower Bridge in London.
By the time I reached the US, the respect for Indian IT professionals was sky high. I never felt any small compared to my colleagues at work or outside, both in the US and Europe. So I completely forgot about those ants in Neendakara till my second visit to a special school, school for the Divyang, as per the new name given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
We met the children and staff of this special school during our family's routine visit to the Malayatoor church four years ago. Since then, we visit the school every year during Christmas holidays and spend some time with the children and staff. During our second visit, I casually asked the Principal how the kids were faring since last year. She opened her desk cabin and pulled out nine medals. I picked up those heavy medals and noticed five big rings on each of them, the kind I had seen only once in my life with Sir Mathew Pinsent, four-time Olympic Gold medal winner, at a Microsoft function in London. As I got busy scrutinizing those medals, she told me that her students won nine medals at the Asia Pacific Special Olympic Games in Sydney.
That was the moment I felt like an ant walking on the Neendakara Bridge. By that time, I had actually spotted this rather long bridge on my many official visits to Thiruvananthapuram from Kochi on the National Highway, a trip the retired accountant general used to take often.
I really felt like an ant on the bridge when I compared the recognition I got for taking the humble jackfruit abandoned by Malayalees from their dining table to the top table of five star restaurants with the neglect meted out to the staff of this special school, who made these kids, some even abandoned by their own parents, medal winners of a top sporting event. The trainers have done even better than Dhronacharya by turning these handicapped Ekalavyas into world class Arjunas.
This week, we visited the school again to see five more medals, this time from this year’s Special Olympics World Championship in Los Angeles! This school tucked away in a remote village near my hometown has the maximum number of Special Olympics medals in India, but once again their efforts has gone unnoticed. But their talk of the day was Prime Minister calling them Divyang not Vikalang, hopefully a first step towards recognising these Dhronacharyas their due share.
Special schools across this 100% literate state has received more than 20 Special Olympics medals this year and it's our turn to reach out to these heroes and offer them all our support to make sure the Divyangs of our state are cared for. Most western countries have integrated special children to normal schools and you will find them in all public places. In India, taking our children to such schools are our only option to help them grow up with due affection for such children and due respect for their carers.
(The writer is former director, executive engagement, Microsoft India and Founder & Brand Ambassador of JackFruit365)