Sonepur: 46 year old Jagannath Das cannot walk properly with his trembling limbs. Blurred vision doesn’t help either. That said, unless and until one sees him working at his bicycle repairing shop at Nimna square of Dasrajpur village under Ulunda block in Subarnapur district, it is tough to believe that he, despite being physically challenged, repairs bicycles as skillfully as any other able mechanic would.
The proverb ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going’ goes well for Jagannath who confronted the challenges life threw at him with a positive attitude.
He had been like any other normal boy until he was 16. However, an accident changed the course of his life.
“I used to cycle to my school at Ulunda. I used to play with my friends. I used to do every other thing what my friends were doing. I can still remember when I met with an accident while studying in Class X. It left me physically challenged, drawing the line between me and my education,” he recalls.
“Several months later, I gathered myself and started my bicycle repairing shop against a wall of a house at Nimna square by erecting a roof,” he added.
His shop is still there. Over the years, he has lost his parents and is still a bachelor. He stays with his elder brother.
Jagannath said his shop used to give him a decent earning. He was able to pay salary to his helping hand as well. “Now the time has changed. I am not able to pay salary to my helper. I am even not able to procure spare parts to run my shop smoothly. It is difficult to run the shop,” he said.
When asked if he gets any government help, he said he gets nothing but disability pension. “If I could get a little financial help from the government, it would be easy for me to renovate and run my business,” he says.
When asked, district social security officer Arttatrana Thati said, “It is no mean feat for a person like Jagannath to stand on his own. If he applies for government assistance, the administration would certainly help him.”