After both our daughters were married in 2010, my wife, Geetha and I travelled to many parts of India. We went to various places for sightseeing, meeting Holy men and women, visiting some of our relatives, observing silence, doing research on our charitable work and generally having a good time.
I am sixty two years old and left India to migrate to the USA in 1977. I am an NRI, whatever that means. In some quarters within India I am not qualified to talk about India. In some circles, I am considered objective. In the USA, I am looked upon as an immigrant, with all the baggage that goes with that term. Some good, and some not so good!
Our travels were between June 26th, 2011 and August 31st , 2011. This is one of my observations.
The Power of Positive Thinking in Action
The Story of Ajay Prakash Dhanak.
While I was asking Puran Joshi, who works in my mom’s home in Hyderabad, about the people that he meets regularly he told me about Ajay and his life. I told Puran I had to meet Ajay. Puran was not sure why I would want to meet Ajay. When you are 62 years of age, studied Vedanta from the best teachers, believe in reincarnation, read about the lives of many famous and not so famous people, have had your share of ups and downs in life, you see things differently. You want to meet people who inspire you. Ajay is one such person. Yes, he is different from most of us. He is blind.
Ajay, born in 1984, is from Haldwani in Uttarakhand. He has two younger brothers. His dad, Shyam Dhanak, has been running an Not for Profit Organization since 2003 for the visually challenged people, helping people in his home State of Uttarakhand. The NGO is the State Chapter of the National Association for the Blind. Prior to 2003, he was operating his own business. He administers a residential school serving 38 visually challenged persons in Haldwani.
Ajay was nine years old, in the third standard, when he began going blind. His parents took him to some of the best eye hospitals in India, including AIIMS, New Delhi. His problem was not diagnosed. This phase lasted two years. One of his dad’s friends recommended they go to Sankara Nethralaya, in Chennai. (God, in the form of Kanchi Paramacharya Pujya Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi, Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam (1894-1994) inspired Dr.S. S Badrinath to start Sankara Nethralaya www.sankaranethralaya.org They not only diagnosed Ajay’s deteriorating vision as Retinitis pigmentosa but explained everything about this incurable disease, why he should be carrying a white cane, where to get help, which NGO’s to get in touch with, how to learn Braille and how his entire family should start the process of adjusting to a very different life.
Ajay finished eighth Standard. His school in Haldwani was not equipped to have a visually challenged person in ninth grade and therefore refused admission. In two months, Ajay learnt Braille and also the use of a computer with special software for the visually challenged. St. Mary’s High school, which is very well equipped to handle special needs children and has a demanding entrance examination, accepted Ajay in the ninth Standard. Ajay finished his tenth standard in St. Mary’s and joined Delhi Public School, (DPS) RK Puram, New Delhi. He was given a personal Laptop Computer with speech output software. The teachers at DPS were “very good”. After finishing his twelfth Standard, Ajay went on to get a B.A (Honors) degree in English from St. Stephens College in New Delhi. St. Stephens is one of the best liberal arts colleges in India. Alumni include Montek Ahluwalia, Shashi Tharoor, Khushwant Singh, Kapil Sibal, Arun Shourie, Salman Khurshid, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Navin Chawla, SY Qureshi, RAW chief KC Verma, NK Singh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s daughter Upinder Singh and Sachin Pilot.
He later went on to Symbiosis Institute of Business Management in Pune, where he got an MBA in Human Resource Management and Marketing.
Dr.Reddy Laboratories, with revenues of $1.565 billion and offices in many countries around the globe, recruited Ajay through the campus placement program. He is presently Assistant Manager, Learning and Development in the training department of Dr.Reddy Laboratories. He has traveled to other locations of his company and does not consider his blindness to be an impediment in doing his job.
When I asked him whether he considers his blindness in this birth as a result of past Karma, his answer was very categorical, “ I do not know enough about the theory of Karma to attribute a cause and effect relationship”. He went on to say that he does not consider his blindness as a “curse” but actually a blessing. According to Ajay, if it were not for his being blind, he would probably be working in a retail store in Haldwani. His determination to overcome his challenges motivated him to attend one of the best schools in India, go on to complete an MBA degree and live a very independent life.
Ajay’s attitude made me think about all the small pleasures I take for granted. For that I thank him. May the Lord bless Ajay with a long, healthy and purpose driven life.
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