Z- Zest for life.
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| Mobile musings - the theme for this A to Z challenge features a blog with a picture clicked by me on my mobile phone |
When I signed up for the A to Z challenge I knew exactly what
I would write about for the letter Z. The rest I was clueless. Eventually now
that I have made it through all other alphabets, It is only apt that the last
post in this A to Z challenge should be about a person whose Zest for life humbles
me.
Waseem gets a little irritated when he is being put on a pedestal
although I must say he handles it with amazing grace when people especially strangers do that ever
so often with him.
Therefore, instead of writing in third person, I asked
Waseem if he would be the guest blogger for this post. This post is an extract
from his speech at our Toastmaster’s club . At the cost of sounding pompous,
let me say this. I edited, tempered and mentored him for this speech. Therefore
a wee bit of the credit for this post is due to me as well . ( You see, Humility
is not my forte )
Over to Waseem :
I am the third in my
family. My parents rejoiced when I was born because after my brother who was
born blind, they had a son who was sighted. But their joy did not
last long. I was around four years of age, living with my aunt when
I started losing my eyesight gradually. I did not
tell my aunt about it. When my mother came visiting I insisted that I wanted to
go back with her. It was then that I told her that I was not able to see
properly. By the time I was seven I lost my eyesight completely.
My parents were determined to give us a good life.
My dad was an Auto Rickshaw
driver and his Auto Rickshaw was his
second home. He always said, my sons are my 2 eyes, so am I for them. They
are not blind.
My mother did not know kannada, she was not originally from Bangalore, yet she took me everywhere
to make sure I get the best in life.
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| Waseem during the intra company chess competition Picture shot on Iphone 4S Nov 2012 , Bangalore India |
It was there that we were taught not just reading and writing. They
were practical and so I learnt a bizarre set of activities that included milking
the cows, washing the cows, gardening, we washed our own clothes,made cargo boxes and even learnt to insert a thread into the needle so that we could mend our own clothes.
That was
where I was getting prepared to face the real world. Learning to play chess was perhaps symbolic of all that. It was a school plus vocational training
centre. Besides that there were ample opportunities to learn classical music
and even Bharathanatyam over there.
I have been learning to play the Veena for 14 years now and have
given performance in Radio, TV and also once in the US. I am on youtube so check me out here.
I finished school and then went to college for my PU ( pre university ) to the government’s boys PU college in Malleshvaram. Until the
end of my PU, my reading and writing was all in Braille and at times volunteers
gave me reading service to support my academics especially to write my exams. I graduated with a B.A degree from Surana college in Jayanagar specializing in Journalism and Political
science.
I think every individual should vote and pay their taxes.
Here is why I tell you that. Many think giving in
charity is good. But no … Tax is the best form of charity. It is because when
we pay our taxes a lot of people who benefit from basic education, roads and
some like me get free public transport.
Ok let me fast forward …
I worked for an NGO
for while, I travelled to various places with them including a trip to the US to assess
the facilities that they have for the visually impaired.
After a while I knew I had to get a job. I
wanted a real job.
When I came in for interview over here, I was expecting it to be tough and I was
nervous. But you know what they asked me ? They asked me to search in google
for naukri.com and read a job description out loud. They must be kidding, I thought. I have Jaws
software installed on my laptop and I have been surfing the internet ever since
I was in college.
Then they asked me to draft an email. I
thought they were asking me silly questions. But Jayanthi tells me it was
tough interview and a hard decision and a biog leap of faith for her to make. Later she told me that despite all her doubts
about hiring me I got the job because of the one question that I
answered. She asked me the standard question that all recruiters ask. She
asked me where do I see myself five years from now.
I said I want to be a tax payer. I want to be a tax
payer to let everyone know that disabled people not only take benefits from tax
payers money, but also give back to the society by paying taxes. Really, I
did not think an answer as simple as that would be a clincher.
That is how, I joined on a contract basis for six months .
That was almost three years ago. I am now a proud taxpayer.
I am a software recruiter by profession. I source resumes, interview people put them
up for interviews with their line managers and finally negotiate salaries and get
them to work for us. Trust me, if you know this industry, my job
you know is not very easy.
Anyway this was my first real job in the corporate world and
for the first 3-4 months, I was only
sourcing. That meant I only called up candidates and scheduled interviews. Then
I started sitting for interviews with my colleagues. Since then I have recruited many ranging from fresh graduates to Senior managers for various roles and skill sets.
I ask them really tough questions before I put them across
for rounds with senior people, because I believe from my expereince that senior
people ask very dumb questions …. < just kidding>.
When I email or speak to the candidates and schedule them
for interviews, most candidates behave normally. But when they come to
office and meet me for the first time, I don’t know what happens to them. Here is an example.
I was scheduling some candidates for a particular position
and I had called this candidate for an interview. The candidate arrived on time,
I met her at the reception, walked her to the interview cabin and I did my
first round of interviews with her. I
thought she would make the cut for the second round and let her know that my
colleagues would now come down to meet her.
She sounded a little
nervous and uncomfortable, but I put it down to the stress due to the gruelling interview that I was
subjecting her to. I called up my colleagues on my mobile phone and let them
know that the candidate was ready and went off for a coffee break. One of my colleagues who was supposed to be interviewing her met me
at the pantry and said that the candidate was not there in the cabin. Another
one went after five minutes and came
back saying the candidate was not there.
I was very sure I had seated her in that room and such are
our security arrangements that no one could walk out without an access card. So
I went along with both of them, opened the door and introduced them to the candidate. I said, Hi Rituparna and
introduced my colleagues and she said Hi.
My colleagues laughed out loud and that is when I heard one
of them switching on the lights in that dark room . I learned that day, where the switches were
and why it was important to switch on the lights in the room to make a
candidate, especially a female candidate comfortable during interviews.
<just kidding>
It takes time for many people to treat a blind person like
any other. Yes… we need support initially to figure out where the table is,
where the chairs are, ( although we do not necearily need to know where the
switches for the lights are) the layout of the room, of the roads and
everything . But it is only a matter of getting used to. I do not allow that support to become
dependence. When people get overly helpful, I try to politely let them know.
I have always been using the pubic transport and come to work everyday using the bus. I never had my college, my music class, even my office
close to where I lived and that helped me know different
localities in Bangalore city. In my case I can say, I know the city of Bangalore
like to back of my hand.
Talking of buses, here is one
more of my misadventures I should tell you before I close.
One day I boarded a crowded bus. I was standing and behind
me was a man. Apparently a seat became vacant in front of us. He whispered to
me over my shoulder that the seat ahead of me was vacant. I moved forward to
take the seat. I sat down, but by the time I sat down I realized the
cushion was slightly different. It did not take me time to realize that I
was sitting on someone’s lap. I juggled around to confirm my hunch and then got
up with a jolt. I was sweating and my heart started beating fast. I rushed out
and got down at the next bustop to avoid any further embarassment.
I am not sure what that girl must have thought about
me. <wink wink>
Thank
you for listening to me. Good luck and do not forget to vote and pay your
taxes.
*************
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| Picture courtesy : Vikram Gunasekaran |
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| Picture courtesy : Vikram Gunasekaran |
When Waseem finished this tight rope walk set about 20 feet above the ground effortlessly is when the rest of us who were onlookers realised that 'What you do not see, you do not fear.'
Perhaps this is how it is for him to walk everywhere.
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