Giant strides in life

FORTY-YEAR old Rajendran drives trucks for a well-known company. Sometimes his job keeps him at the wheel for 12 to 14 hours at a stretch.

Gopi, an electrician, drove a two-wheeler all the way to Delhi. When he is not up a pole fixing a recalcitrant wire, he is climbing coconut trees in his backyard for tender nuts.

Jagadeesh, a Std. II student is a basketball player and does very well in studies. This bright-eyed kid breaks into a classical song before you have completed your request.

Sounds incredible but they have much in common. They are all BK (below the knee) amputees.

And they owe their normal life and their extremely comfortable limb to Mukti, the artificial limb centre in Meenambakkam.

Ten years ago, Rajendran lost his leg in a hit-and-run accident. He lay bleeding all night on the road to Rasipuram and an amputation was performed at the A.N. Rao Hospital, Salem.

The Mangalpur Hospital gave him a prosthesis but Rajendran found it heavy and ill-fitting. He had to use crutches.

On the day I visited Mukti he was there having heard about it after 10 years of suffering. In a mere four hours, he got his new limb.

Using a plastic cover and plaster of Paris, a negative cast was made, a heated polythylene tube put around it and hammered into shape and once the plaster was knocked off, the cast was attached to a rubber foot complete with heel, toe and ankle movement.

The shining leg matching his good one was fitted on his stump and was snugly tied in place with smooth rubber straps.

A grateful and smiling Rajendran walked jauntily out of the door to a life without crutches.

His evident happiness had one more reason. His artificial limb and the fitting came absolutely free.

Gopi fell off his bicycle and was run over by a lorry. Little Jagadeesan was born with a defective leg which terminated at the thigh.

His mother undertook a pilgrimage and on a train she saw a beggar boy walking happily with an artificial limb. It is that singing beggar who brought her to Mukti, ironically almost next door to her home in Chennai. Jagadeesan visits Mukti periodically for new limbs and help for his education. Then there are polio victims who come to Mukti for its light-weight calipers.

Listen to Anandavalli, Amudha and Renuka talk animatedly about their future. Victims of polio in their childhood, they all wear calipers but to them it is no more bothersome than an ingrown toe nail. Renuka, a fourth-year E & C student at the Anna University will look for a plum IT job "anywhere in the world" thanks to Mukti. Anandavalli and Amudha completed training at the ITI, Taramani, and will be 'MTCing' to Tondiarpet for a year's advanced course. "With these calipers we jump in and out of buses," they boast.

Kalyan Kumar, chief technician at Mukti, is the man all the amputees thank for the excellent job. After that they walk into the office to meet Meena Dadha, founder of the centre.

But here they are usually at a loss for words. They amble out, their attachment having found a much deeper meaning.

Mukti is 'life' for Meena Dadha too. Searching for something useful to do, she decided on a limb centre after attending the artificial limb camp of the Rajasthan Youth Association in 1984.

She brought in experts in limb making from Jaipur to train her technicians. A Tamil magazine took up the story and amputees began to flock to the centre.

Since April 14, 1986 (first in Royapettah and later shifted to I, Station Road, Meenambakkam) Mukti has disbursed "absolutely free of cost" 36,000 lower limbs, 14,000 braces and calipers and 548 upper limbs.

From individualised aluminimium limbs, Dadha made the switch to HDPE technology in 1990.

After her first camp for amputees in Sowcarpet, Dadha has organised 150 artificial limb camps in India, Africa and Latin America. Caliper camps number 40 and workshops, 17.

Mukti goes beyond providing prostheses and calipers. Out-of-town patients are given food and lodging during the fitting. Its rehabilitation programme has found employment for 489 of these physically challenged.

If inclined to self employment, they are encouraged to set up their own small units for which Mukti gets them help from the Government and private employers.

Mukti finds jobs for the mentally challenged in association with an NGO. After training in screen printing and making leather belts and rubber feet for the limbs and braces, several intellectually challenged have been gainfully employed at Mukti and elsewhere in the city.

The high point of a visit to Mukti is talking to these people and watching their faces light up at the mention of their work.

Establishing a barrier-free environment for the wheel-chair bound, giving awards for outstanding performance to the physically challenged, organising face-to-face programmes with potential employers are all part of the routine at Mukti. Mukti's funding comes from voluntary contributions.

Undertake a trip to Mukti. Or phone Mr. Vedantham of Mukti at 234 6973/8261113 or e-mail meenadadha@vsnl.com.

The next time Mukti organises its annual sports meet, be there to watch out for its torchbearer. That young sprinter goes by the name of Jagadeesan.

GEETA PADMANABHAN

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