Pleading for help from sighted world

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When the world observes October 13 as the Sight Day to prevent visual impairment and restore sight, one telephone booth operator at Veli Tourism Village is pleading for help from the sighted world.A representative of the extinct species of telephone booth operators in a bigger world of mobile telephones, Venu is not just visually challenged, but has mobility problems as well. The walker which leans to the fence outside the booth has been Venu’s companion ever since his fall at Mudavanvanmugal a few years ago.With telephone booths no more a source of income for the blind, Venu is making an all-out effort to convert his wooden shack into a cool bar. A few well-wishers have even promised to get him a fridge to store the soft drinks and juices he plans to sell. But for that, he needs to pull down the worn-out shack and start from scratch.But how is he going to differentiate between the various brands of soft drinks, we could not help asking. “I can always keep different brands on different shelves. All I need to know is which is kept where,” Venu explained the simple logic.Venu intends to make use of the same simple technique to safekeep the helmets and bags of all those visitors who come to the tourist village. “That would be an added source of income. Even my wife could come in and help me,” he said.Sarojam, Venu’s wife who is also blind, had always been his shadow, working along with him from dawn to dusk. But when there was a lull in business, she decided to stay at home.  Most students who passed out of the University of Kerala would remember the blind couple and their booth, which most of them depended on in the 1980s and early 1990s. This was before they had to move out of the Palayam campus.Thankfully, their son Arun is sighted. But Venu’s accident and confinement to bed had forced him to stop studies at various junctures.  Now, he is employed temporarily with Mohan Sounds. ‘‘His job now keeps us away from starvation. The days when he has no work, we still starve because my booth doesn’t give any profit anymore. I just come here now to while away the time,” said Venu.The big black and yellow coin box in one corner of the booth stands witness to tumultuous life of this blind couple.  Venu, who has been helped by former Kerala University students and the Sai Gramam, has not yet lost his faith in the goodness of mankind. He needs quite a lot of money to set up a cool bar and he believes that the sighted world would help him to do that.