Thiruvananthapuram: A.S. Lekshmi and A.S. Parvathy are so adept at lip-reading that initially none of their classmates at the Government College of Engineering would believe the twins are deaf. It is both a boon and a bane. A bane because most would show more empathy to the ones who know sign language, according to O. Seetha, their mother. “Their classmates would not understand why the girls needed to copy notes. When the teacher would not be visible, they would not be able to read lips,” she says.
They have to brave scorns from people who are not sensitive about their condition. However, these struggles seem small when one looks at their journey in full. Their father Ajikumar had committed suicide when they were two years’ old. The mother had three children with hearing impairment to look after and no job. Their brother Vishnu is also deaf. “People would pity us, saying how I had three children, including two girls, with hearing impairment. Not once did I think that having daughters was a bad thing. But I was anxious of what will become of my children,” she says.
Today, Seetha is an insurance agent. But she does not need to pay for their children’s education. The twin daughters are studying on scholarships. The elder brother is now working with the revenue department. All three of them are ambitious. “Lekshmi and Parvathy got 8.5 GPA in their first and second semester exams. But they were sad they didn’t get 9. They have big dreams and say they will be able to manage by themselves,” Seetha says.
