 Finding her feet
Janaki
 Janaki was born in Maharajapuram, in Thanjavur district, in a middle-class family with two elder brothers, two elder sisters, three younger sisters and one younger brother. Her father Natarajan was a lawyer and mother Alamelu took good care of the children and household work. They did not have any property and they wanted to give good education to the children.
Baby Janaki was beautiful and everyone liked her. She was very active and playful. Nobody dreamt that such a child would one day become inactive and burdensome. When she was three years old, Janaki had an attack of typhoid which led to non-stop cough and diarrhoea which weakened her to a great extent..
She was taken to many doctors but her condition worsened. Some wrong treatment made her nervous system very weak and her joints were badly affected. She could not move her body at all. There were big boils all over her body with lot of puss and the suffering of the child was unbearable. It was a painful experience when her boils broke and new ones appeared after some time. She could not even be carried because her whole body was full of sores and boils.
It was a painful scene to other members of the family to see the sufferings of the young girl. Continuous treatment was given to her and her slender body underwent innumerable surgeries in the hand and leg joints, hip joints and wrist but there was no relief. As they lost hope in Allopathic treatment, the parents took her to Siddha, Homeopathy, Unani doctors.
But they also could not cure Janaki. All her fingers shrank and the wrists could not move. She was confined to the bed. As the joints had become rigid, her elbows and knees could not be stretched. All her hand, leg and hip joints swelled and Janaki looked like a wooden doll with no movement.
When her sisters and brothers were going to schools, college, university and settled down in life, poor Janaki was taken from Trichy to many places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kerala to get different types of treatment as her parents could not bear the sufferings of their daughter. It continued for 20 long years.
Janaki had no opportunity to go to school as she was busy with oil baths and massages to straighten her body. The whole active period of her life was lost in misery, medicine and surgery.
When she became 25, even the doctor who was treating her with physiotherapy lost hope and told her to practice it herself. It was a turning point in the life of Janaki. As the physiotherapist himself was reluctant and abandoned her, she felt that she should try her best.
With confidence and courage she started practising to walk at home. Slowly she was able to move around. What was not possible in all those 25 years' treatment happened because of her strong will and continuous practice. Her parents and others were happy to see her movements and encouraged her.
It was a new life for Janaki. The next step was the practice of climbing up and down the staircases. It was very strenuous for her. Climbing even two steps was a great task and painful. But she did not give up the effort. As she become capable of moving her hands and legs, she wanted to do something to earn a livelihood.
Though her people at home were kind to her, she wanted to stand on her own feet. She decided to learn tailoring and told everyone about it. They were shocked and told her not to venture into such things as they feared that tailoring would harm her hands and legs which had just become okay after many long years.
 Janaki was obstinate and went to a tailoring school. But on seeing her physique, the teacher refused to admit her as she felt Janaki would not be able use her limbs. Janaki pleaded with the teacher that she has withstood many surgeries all over her body and nobody had any hope of her revival. But she could regain her movements to a great extent and she wanted to lead a useful life as long as she could.
She did not mind whatever happened to her body because of learning tailoring. The teacher thought that Janaki wanted to join because tailoring was a good exercise for her affected hands and legs. With enormous will power she joined the class and more than the teacher, her senior students in the tailoring school helped her a lot. Janaki took it up as a challenge and wanted to satisfy herself as well as prove to others her talent.
The teacher herself was surprised to notice the speed with which Janaki learnt the art. The numb fingers were able to hold the scissors and cut the cloth; the legs, which had no movement, were able to pedal the machine. She could stitch beautiful dresses. All these miracles happened in Janaki's life. She completed her training successfully.
Her brothers expressed their happiness and appreciation by getting a new tailoring machine and cloth for Janaki as soon as she completed her course so that the learning could continue and she would be active. She stitched clothes for all the members of her family.
She became an expert in making chudidar, shirt, pant, blouse and frock. The neighbours were also impressed with her work and became Janaki's customers. She established herself as a good tailor and teacher too. Many women came to her to learn tailoring. What was initially denied to her, helps her not only to earn her livelihood but also get some recognition and respect from society which has ignored her because of her inability.
She did not stop with that. She evinced interest in handicrafts and learnt how to make Tanjavur painting which is very difficult and costly too. She made the Thanjavur Brahadeeswara temple, the court of Raja Raja Chola, Krishna, Venkatachalapathy and many other paintings in a neat and beautiful manner which attracted many people who gave many orders to her.
This fetched her good money and she went further to learn glass painting, nib painting, Mysore painting, oil painting, etc., and gradually extended her area of work. She makes dolls also, depicting various cultures.
Janaki narrates her early life as a tailor. "My earnings in the initial stages were very low. I did not demand from my customers heavy charges because I was afraid that if I did so they might go to an able bodied tailor, ignoring me. Though I knew money was very essential to me at that stage, I decided not to lose the customers. Even for teaching tailoring to women I charged only Rs 20 when others charged Rs 400 to 500 from each student.
"As the charges were low and teaching was good, many women came to me. I was really happy about it and thought of making small savings out of my income. So I went to a bank and asked the official how much I should put to start an account. He said, '10'. On seeing my disabled hand, he filled up the form for me and asked for the amount. I just gave a Rs 10 note to him and he was shocked and asked me why I gave that amount.
"I innocently told him it was he who told that '10' was enough. Then the official told me that by 10 he meant Rs 10,000. I could not control my shock and laughter and till today it is an unforgettable incident in my life. Though I did not have that much amount, with his help I started my first bank account and whenever somebody wants to open a bank account, I share my experience with them and have a good laugh. Gradually, there is an increase in my bank balance because of my hard work."
Janaki was happy about her career but upset over her education. She decided to learn English as it would help her extend her contacts in her business. With the help of an English teacher, Janaki began her coaching.
She shares her experience of learning. "The teacher began the class telling me that I should first ask whomsoever I met 'How are you?' and that is the basic manners everyone should show to others. He also insisted that the first sentence I should utter to him the next day should be only that. I repeated that sentence again and again. When I saw him the next day in my anxiety I asked him 'Who are you?' The teacher laughed like anything but encouraged me to go ahead. Gradually, I improved my standard and now I am able to read and speak correct English."
Janaki feels that she had wasted the prime period of her life in a corner of the house, always brooding over her sickness. But she is happy that at least after so many years she could establish herself as an individual, though physically handicapped. The inferiority complex just vanished. She gets bulk orders and her customers feel that she has a lucky hand.
They do not mind her physical disability as inauspicious. Their concern and respect for Janaki do wonders for her and she is very regular and fair in dealing with them. Many women who have learnt tailoring from Janaki are working in export companies earning Rs 6,000 a month. Some others have their own tailoring shops and schools.
She had wondered whether she could be of any use to society. But today more than 2,000 women have benefited from her teaching. She had pleasant experiences of meeting her students who have risen to good position.
Once when she was in the railway station and a woman came to her with a child and greeted her. Janaki could not identify her. Then that woman told her that she learnt tailoring from her 10 years ago and now she was happily settled in life. She was earning her livelihood by having a machine at home and stitching clothes. Janaki was immensely happy that she could do something useful to society.
Another unforgettable event is associated with a deaf and dumb girl called Kannamma. One day she came to Janaki and expressed her desire to learn tailoring. It is not difficult to teach a deaf and dumb girl provided the teacher is able to make good gestures with her hands. Janaki's problem lay there. With her defective hands she could not make proper gestures while teaching
Kannamma.
So she told her to go to a better teacher. But Kannamma insisted that she should be taught only by Janaki. Other senior students understood the interest of Kannamma and told Janaki that they would assist her in teaching Kannamma. She finished the six months' course successfully in two months and left the institution.
Janaki happened to meet her after five years in one function. She was moved when the dumb woman rushed to her with all respect and love and made gestures with her hands that she is well settled in life because of her training and requested her to visit her. She could never forget Kannamma in her life and felt happy for not rejecting her admission into the tailoring class though initially she was not in favour of it and expressed her thanks to other students who encouraged her to take in
Kannamma.
 Janaki has settled down in Bangalore and when she looks back, she cannot believe that she was able to achieve something in life. The motionless girl who was confined to her sick bed for a quarter century has mastered 30 arts and crafts. Though her legs are not normal, she is able to make them stronger and stand on them safely.
She attracts the attention of people by organising exhibitions of handicrafts in Bangalore every month. She makes beautiful things using match and ice cream sticks which are commonly available. Her innovative mind, hard work and strong will have secured a place in society where once she was unwanted. She is a silent worker and great achiever. She should be recognised and honoured, as her life is a great motivation for the discouraged, self-pitying, disabled persons.
Shanmugam can be contacted
@:
No: 54 Kamaraj Road,
Ramakrishna Nagar,
Alwar Thirunagar,
Chennai- 600 087.
Phone: 248 60 221
E-mail: shanmugam@azagi.com
(Extracted
from the book 'Hope is Life')
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