PRAYAGRAJ: Life has not been all that rosy for 18- year-old Vivek Mani Tripathi, the visually-impaired student who hogged the limelight after taking a selfie with PM Narendra Modi at an event at parade ground on Saturday.
Vivek has always been a bright student, scoring 90% in class 10th and 70% in 12th board (science), but since early childhood he faced all the torments that any visually-impaired student could have faced.
“Kids called me with all kinds of ‘adjectives’ which led me to hate school and had it not been for my cousin and mentor, Mahesh Shukla, I would have still been a useless kid roaming in the fields of my village Ahibarampur, Kunda”, said Tripathi. Mahesh Bhaiya informed me about a visually-impaired school in Prayagraj (earliest while Allahabad) and my family admitted me there, he added.
Vivek even tried to run away from the visually-impaired school and it was after much assurance by his father and grandfather to the school authorities that he was allowed to stay. He, however, learnt Braille within six months (a course which other visually-impaired students take around two years to complete) and was thus admitted directly in class 6th.
“After class 8th, I went back to my village and got enrolled in class 9th, Sanskrit subject and the teacher (Anil Pandey) being my favourite, I passed 10th board with 90% marks”, said Vivek. However, passing class 12th was again a struggle for him as getting a writer for board exam was a huge task, he added.
But the problems also showed the path to young Vivek who made sure that every visually-impaired that he would come across in his life, would get the best of education.
Since then, be it 27-yr-old Surendra Kumar Bhartiya of Phulpur, Nishu Pandey of Berua, Kaushambi, Saloni Gupta from Gorakhpur or 100 other visually-impaired youths he had met, Vivek has got them admitted in several of the visually-impaired schools of the country. From Delhi, Dehradun, Meerut, Lucknow, Banda, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur etc, this ‘selfie star with PM’ has taken things under his control directly and has gone to extremes to get them admitted in visually-impaired schools.
“Nishu’s parents were not at all supportive and no one was ready to take him to the visually-impaired school So I convinced his father and took him to Meerut all by myself in 2018, lying to my own family that I am going to Lucknow for some event. We spent 24 hours without food, but it was only after getting him admitted at one of the visually-impaired schools at Partapur, Meerut that I came back,”recollects young Vivek.
I have no shame in lying to my parents for a good cause, said Vivek who has also been a gold medallist in Judo and has now become an overnight star, being felicitated by media and politicians alike.
While talking to TOI on Tuesday, Vivek also told us that he would soon be registering for an NGO for the visually-impaired. Groundwork for the same has already been prepared. ‘Rashtriya Pragya Chakshu Sangh’, would be the one which will try to remove the corruption involved in extending government’s help for the visually-impaired, be it monetary or for schemes.
Besides, the NGO would make society more aware and sensitized towards visually-impaired.
“One of the important thing that the NGO would do pertains to finding writers for the visually-impaired s as people have made this their business in big cities like Delhi wherein visually-impaired are asked to pay hefty amount for a writer, be it for classes or competitive exams,” said Vivek.
Vivek has always been a bright student, scoring 90% in class 10th and 70% in 12th board (science), but since early childhood he faced all the torments that any visually-impaired student could have faced.
“Kids called me with all kinds of ‘adjectives’ which led me to hate school and had it not been for my cousin and mentor, Mahesh Shukla, I would have still been a useless kid roaming in the fields of my village Ahibarampur, Kunda”, said Tripathi. Mahesh Bhaiya informed me about a visually-impaired school in Prayagraj (earliest while Allahabad) and my family admitted me there, he added.
Vivek even tried to run away from the visually-impaired school and it was after much assurance by his father and grandfather to the school authorities that he was allowed to stay. He, however, learnt Braille within six months (a course which other visually-impaired students take around two years to complete) and was thus admitted directly in class 6th.
“After class 8th, I went back to my village and got enrolled in class 9th, Sanskrit subject and the teacher (Anil Pandey) being my favourite, I passed 10th board with 90% marks”, said Vivek. However, passing class 12th was again a struggle for him as getting a writer for board exam was a huge task, he added.
But the problems also showed the path to young Vivek who made sure that every visually-impaired that he would come across in his life, would get the best of education.
Since then, be it 27-yr-old Surendra Kumar Bhartiya of Phulpur, Nishu Pandey of Berua, Kaushambi, Saloni Gupta from Gorakhpur or 100 other visually-impaired youths he had met, Vivek has got them admitted in several of the visually-impaired schools of the country. From Delhi, Dehradun, Meerut, Lucknow, Banda, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur etc, this ‘selfie star with PM’ has taken things under his control directly and has gone to extremes to get them admitted in visually-impaired schools.
“Nishu’s parents were not at all supportive and no one was ready to take him to the visually-impaired school So I convinced his father and took him to Meerut all by myself in 2018, lying to my own family that I am going to Lucknow for some event. We spent 24 hours without food, but it was only after getting him admitted at one of the visually-impaired schools at Partapur, Meerut that I came back,”recollects young Vivek.
I have no shame in lying to my parents for a good cause, said Vivek who has also been a gold medallist in Judo and has now become an overnight star, being felicitated by media and politicians alike.
While talking to TOI on Tuesday, Vivek also told us that he would soon be registering for an NGO for the visually-impaired. Groundwork for the same has already been prepared. ‘Rashtriya Pragya Chakshu Sangh’, would be the one which will try to remove the corruption involved in extending government’s help for the visually-impaired, be it monetary or for schemes.
Besides, the NGO would make society more aware and sensitized towards visually-impaired.
“One of the important thing that the NGO would do pertains to finding writers for the visually-impaired s as people have made this their business in big cities like Delhi wherein visually-impaired are asked to pay hefty amount for a writer, be it for classes or competitive exams,” said Vivek.
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