Deepaanjali: Leading night for visually challenged
Subbaraydu was interested in studies, but was not aware of a school for the blind till he turned eight.
Bengaluru: Subbaraydu K. is 32 years old now. Born to Puttaiah and Subbamma in Andhra Pradesh, he was partially blind by birth, and was brought up at R.T. Nagar. His father, who was a cook, was the only breadwinner for the family and struggled to meet the ends meet.
Subbaraydu was interested in studies, but was not aware of a school for the blind till he turned eight. With the help of a philanthropist, Subbaraydu joined the Sri Ramana Maharshi Academy School for the Blind at J.P. Nagar 3rd Phase and completed his schooling. Since his school days, Subbaraydu was active in sports and represented his school at the state and national level sports meets in cricket, volleyball and athletics.
Later, he got himself enrolled at Seshadripuram College for Arts, where he interacted with other visually challenged students from various streams. He found out that most of them were struggling to get a decent accommodation in the city, and this troubled him a lot.
After getting his bachelor's degree from the Karnataka State Open University, Mysore, Subbaraydu joined as a telephone operator at a private company at HSR Layout in 2010. He worked for about two years, but memories of disabled students’ struggle to find affordable accommodation kept haunting him and pushing him to do something for them.
In 2012, he quit his job and with the help of his friends and family, founded the Deepaanjali Trust for the Disabled, off Bannerghatta Road. He opened a hostel to provide food and other needs for the visually challenged, but had only one student, B.T. Manjunath.
Soon the word spread and the hostel is now home to 25 students, who study at different colleges across the city.
Manjunath, who is partially blind, completed his bachelor's degree and worked at a call centre for about three years, all the time staying at the hostel. He is now preparing for competitive exams.
Apart from providing food and nutritious meals to the visually challenged students at the hostel at an affordable rate, Subbaraydu also trains interested candidates in sports. His students have won several medals at state and national level competitions, including the events organised by the Indian Blind Sports Association, New Delhi.
Subbaraydu said, “Being visually challenged, I know the problems of my brethren better than anyone else. Since childhood, I had the desire to help people with disabilities and empower them to embrace opportunities, which they would have to fight for otherwise."
He said, “Our goal is to provide accommodation, education, training and assistance with personality development to the visually challenged. We help them get admission in colleges and pursue higher education. Our volunteers coach them and prepare them in all ways to sail with the mainstream and make them realise that even those who are visually and physically challenged can lead a life with dignity and self-respect. I train interested students in the sports they like. I am proud to say that Deepanjali is the only visually challenged trust to have a kabaddi team.”
On funds for the trust, Subbaraydu said, “We have people who sponsor our students and activities. Through our initiative, Prakruti, we collect old newspapers, magazines or shredded paper. Some of it is used by our blind students to make Braille notes, while the rest is sold to generate funds for the organisation.”
He said, “Also, people come here to celebrate their birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other happy occasions with our students and share a meal, breakfast, lunch or a dinner with them.”
On his future goals, Subbaraydu said that the trust, which is now catering to the needs of visually impaired alone, wishes to help the physically challenged and underprivileged students as well.
Interested can contact Deepaanjali Trust on mail on deepaanjalitrust@gmail.com or call 9964002353.