The Golchha Bros...... A True Revelation

   Ajit and Abhi (AA),two inseparable twins, who despite of their malady, made everyone proud who were associated with them at one time or the other. Though I wanted their story to be the first post on my blog, because it delivers the true meaning of my blog's title,  but because of their modesty had to step back. Their story is not just motivating but also revitalizing. Just like everyone, my first impression of them was that of  pity, however in my heart I had resolved not to show it and treat them just as any other student. They were more vivacious and gregarious, than any other student and proved that they are an asset for the Institution. My bond with them grew because of their attitude and the knowledge they possess. They were the first ones to access the facebook code in my class way back in 2010. Till then no student had dare to do that. But these two, not only did they hack the code but also showed me their procurement.And they were also the first ones to ask for permission to eat in the class saying "Mam bhook lagi hai, thodi si roti kha loon"? Though I don't remember which one was it. And also to keep half roti for me, which was their mother's specialty, if I had a class after the break.

Ajit Golchha and Abhinandan Golchha, cannot speak clearly, but when they do they have hearty chat, you cannot understand what they write but they only write what should be written, they are not just my favorites but also of my hubby's.My hubby was shocked to hear about them for the first time and now,  he also,  just like me is happy for their success. I take pride and with all humility say that these two were once my students and were really interesting to have around, time quickly passed by in their company. Despite their glitch, they always projected a "Happy Go Lucky" demeanor.

Here is an abstract of conversation I had with them, in spite of my request to answer individually,  they responded in combination. Hope you too will be amused by them as I am.

Me:  Hi, it always happens that my first question would be introduce yourself, but, despite your clear differentiation, I am still confused, who is the older one among you?

AA: Ajit is elder and Abhinandan is younger by 25 mins, though Abhi looks older and Ajit looks younger (haha).

Me: Ok, now introduce yourself.

AA: We are five siblings, we have three elder sisters who are married and settled in their lives.

Ajit and Abhi with their sisters

Actually, introducing oneself is always difficult when you have an identical twin who looks exactly the same, has same hobbies, and has almost same hairstyle and beard (hahaha) though there are few differences like, Ajit is  lefty, more creative and Abhi is right-hander and good in technical or subjective side compared to Ajit, but it doesn’t mean that Abhi is not creative or Ajit is not good in technical or subjective side. We both have understood our different areas of interest and respect each individual choices.(They responded in sync)

Me:What are your educational qualifications?
AA: We did our schooling from Sadhu Vaswani High school, Hyderabad, we just passed all the subjects by passing marks.

Then we moved to St. Mary’s Jr. College for our Intermediate (10+2), in this also we just passed  all the subjects by passing marks.

And then, we joined St. Joseph’s Degree and PG College for our Graduation in Bachelors of Commerce and here we gained lot of confidence and secured good percentage of marks (Ajit – 83% and Abhi – 86%)

Ajit and Abhi after their convocation

For Post-Graduation, we joined Aurora’s Business School. Specializing in Dual subject as major – Finance and Marketing and Minor as Human Resource. We were able to secure good percentile. Abhi secured 4^th rank while Ajit secured 5^th rank in the college. 

Me: WOW!!!!! That's great. If you don’t mind answering what is your problem? And how are you different from others?

AA :We are orthopedic handicapped suffering from Cerebral Palsy (CP). There are various types of cerebral palsy that people may have. We have moved our CP from worst to mild with the help of our parents.

Me: Can you elaborate?

AA:We were born in Bidasar, a sub district in Rajasthan, as pre-mature babies due to which our brains couldn't develop completely. And 27 years ago, there were very less or no medical facilities available in the villages and hence were unable to get timely medication. Perhaps, this resulted in our underdevelopment, i.e., we were unable to move our limbs, head etc. on our own until 2-3 years after our birth. Due to this, we were very late in everything including, walking, talking, etc. which a normal child could do within 2-3 years. This condition effected everything including joining school late.We joined our school at Dinhata, near Bangladesh, at the age of 5 in LKG, we were pathetically bad in our initial schooling days. And then our Dad, who is a businessman, moved to Hyderabad. Here, we worked a bit on our self and tried to become at least an average student.

Me: What were the problems you faced during your education?

AA:Our reading speed was and is very slow, hand writing was not legible when we write for long (yes, we can write) and speed was horribly slow. We were slow by around 60% in both – reading and writing when compared to a normal person.

Me: When did you overcome this problem?

AA:It was when we came to degree, we recognized our full potential and started working on the things that can be improved and were able to make strategies to deal or overcome our shortcomings.We must say, in our degree life we had a good support from friends and faculty – they were never biased towards us, and always supported us in whatever we wanted to do, which boosted our confidence.If degree life made us confident then, PG life made us believe in us. It made us believe that we can do and achieve anything and "there are no free lunches in life".To get anything, we need to work even harder than a normal guy. PG life had broaden our thinking and prospective.We believe that we can do anything and everything, but differently.

Me:What hurdles are you facing now?  

AA: Due to our CP, our tongues are thick which results in unclear voice, as a result we lack confidence in talking to a new person. Reading speed is very slow and we are not considering writing here because most of the work we do is on computer. 

Me:I remember you people wanted to join civil services.

AA: Yes, preparation for civil services takes hell lot of time, which we don't have, as we have to support our family.

Me: What are you doing to support your family?

Ajit and Abhi with their parents

AA:We are currently working as  Business Analyst in BASIX which is a livelihood promotion institution. We have been working since past one and the half year.

Me:What are your future plans?

AA:Our future plan is to get a secure a Govt. job and settle in life. 

Me:What are your achievements?

AA: Achievement is a term which changes from time to time. While in school or college, we would consider winning a competition as an achievement and while in job, getting appreciation from boss and getting hike in pay is considered as achievement. These things we have achieved. But the real achievement was when we have tried to start our business in our PG. We started a website, for the students who can ask their doubts and as per the concept the answers were to be given by the experts. We learned a lot of things that time though business was not successful it made us strong and made us to believe in our-self.

Me: I remember reading an article in the Sakshi newspaper about you.

Article in the Sakshi Newspaper

AA: Yes, on our successful completion of MBA they had written about us.

Me: How did your family support you?

AA:Our parent have worked really hard on both of us, to make us stand on our feet. Today whatever we are, its just because of our parents. They always motivated us to work harder, neither did they think that we are different from others nor they allowed us and they always told there are no short cuts in life.

They wanted us to be independent, that’s why they selected medication rather than going to a spiritual guru. They put us in normal school and college and made sure that we go to school despite of all our problems.

Me:How did the society look at you?

AA:Society has been grateful to us by showing sympathy, which we neither asked for nor wanted.

We believe people should change their thinking about Handicapped. They often think that we are a liability to the society and need to be taken care of.

We mostly find two types of people, one who think that we are great and can do wonders or the others who think that we can’t do anything and will always be dependent. We want to tell them, "DUDE!! We are not great, we make mistake and learn from them. We are working and independent".

People still ask us - What are you studying? Are you studying in school or which class do you study?

They never expect that we are that qualified and working in a company with good salary. 

Despite of having all qualities and capabilities, we had and have to prove ourselves everytime. Whether being at school or college or at work, we need to prove that we are capable of doing and delivering things in time.

Me:Would you like to say something else?

AA:Being a PH is not easy. You need to be on your toe everytime. You may have to work even harder but people won’t recognize it that easily. They expect us to be good always – not to lose our mind/temper no matter what they do. They expect us to be calm no matter what kind of situation we are facing. They expect us to say always good no matter how badly others talk to us or ridicule us . They often think that we are mad or something of that level. We need to learn how to ignore all these people and move on, which is very hard.

Sometimes in family, people may think that we are unwanted to go with or to bond with. Or family might be too protective that you think why you have such disability that you are unable to enjoy your life or do what you want to do.

But you need to be always self-motivated to boost your moral and happy (atleast pretend).

You need to be always optimistic, no matter what happens!!!!!

Dear people, I may not have a global approach, but with your support I can reach maximum and let the world know, that your behavior makes other 's hearts bleed. Please, let us encourage and allow such lovely ones to have a life of their own and make this world a better place for everyone. Let us pledge to "LIVE AND LET LIVE". I wish my words reach many ears.

Until my next story have a peaceful life.