1 week Ago By Gopika Varrier
THRISSUR: Radiating positivity and with a ‘chandanakuri’ on her forehead, Rathnam P G greets all visitors with a handful of home-made chocolates. Refusing to let the four walls of her room define her life, the 65-year-old has been keeping herself busy for the past 15 years with different activities that ensure a steady income. Rathnam was affected by polio when just two, paralysing her left leg.
Since then, she has fought bravely to rise above her limitations, trying to walk and run in her own way. “I fell down frequently, but I rose and continued harder,” Rathnam, a retired teacher, tells TNIE. Years back, the authorities of Amala Hospital approached Rathnam to make ‘knockers’ for women whose breasts were surgically removed because of cancer.
As she knew knitting, or crocheting, she readily accepted the proposal. For want of a proper model, Rathnam searched the internet and referred books to design one of her own. “I ordered soft yarns from Kozhikode and set to work.
Now, I make customised knockers,” she says. As her pension fund was low, for she had only 10 years of service, Rathnam ventured into production at home. Currently, she makes home-made chocolates, sambar powder, chutney powder, pickles, soaps, etc, selling them under the brand of Piknik home-made products.
She also crafts home decor items like customised ‘aalavattam’. “These days, I’m so busy with these things that I don’t even think about my disabilities,” Rathnam says. And through teachers in her network, she also trains children with disabilities in making products like incense sticks and soaps.
“They too can earn a livelihood,” she says. Having passed SSLC in 1972, she went on to acquire a bachelor’s degree in botany from the Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur. During BEd classes, walking with the support of a stick and shoes specially made for her was difficult, especially during monsoon days.
But Rathnam never gave up on her dreams. Though she had to stand outside classes multiple times for being late, she continued on her chosen path. In 1980, she married Rajan and gave birth to a daughter in 1983.
“During pregnancy, we were worried about falling, for fear of affecting the baby,” she says. Rathnam also led several protests against the delay in implementation of The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. At the age of 45, after several struggles, she was appointed a UP school teacher at the Government HSS in Cherpu.
In 2011, she was recognised by the state government for the best government staff in the persons with disabilities category. In 2014, she received the Golden Mother award instituted by the Calicut University. Rathnam makes home-made chocolates, sambar powder, chutney powder, pickles, soaps, etc, selling them under the brand of Piknik home-made products.
She also crafts home decor items.
