Date:02/01/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/02/stories/2010010255390300.htm _________________________________________________________________________________
Link: Kerala- Alappuzha New challenges for armless artist Dennis Marcus Mathew - Photo: Dennis Marcus Mathew Armed with art: Sajay Kumar, an armless fine arts student, at work in the Mavelikara Government Fine Arts College. ALAPPUZHA: This New Year is different for 22-year-old Sajay Kumar, a final year fine arts student at the Raja Ravi Varma Government College of Fine Arts, Mavelikara. For, the year 2010 is when he is up against a fresh challenge, the latest thrown against him by life. Born without arms, Sajayan, as he is popularly called on campus, is as good as any other artist, a fact testified by his principal, N.N. Rimzon, himself an internationally known artist. Sajayan's teachers and his friends echo this, pointing to the paintings that Sajayan has done with his legs. With just a few more months to go for his degree course to end, this artist is now pondering what next. He knows that without arms, landing a teaching job in a fine arts institute or an artist's job in any other firm is going to be tough. "I would like to do my Masters. But I don't know how. All that I know is that I want to overcome all obstacles and go forward. Painting is my world," he says. Sajayan's life, right from the day he was born, has been full of challenges, as he himself recalls. "When I was born, my father was not happy since I had no arms. I heard he wanted to kill me then itself. But by God's grace, I lived, though I had to move from my own home at Pattazhi near Adoor to that of my uncle's. My mother would come and see me once in a while. From Class two, I moved to the Asha Bhavan orphanage at Pathanapuram, where I stayed till my Plus Two. Then I came to the hostel of Jyothis School for Special Children, where I have been since," he says. The college campus has been good to him. "There is no sympathy. There is only kindness. Students here treat me as one of them, and that is what I want." At Jyothis, director Rev. Raju Philip Zachariah says Sajayan always finds possibilities beyond his limitations, and that this could take him forward. At the college, Mr. Rimzon says the society and the Government should come forward to help him. All that Sajayan does in response is to flash his trademark shy smile. To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
