Work has therapeutic
value, says John Chandy.
With this in mind,
Chandy has been
advocating the
employment of the
differently-abled in
various sectors

ife could be dull and drab when one is old and there is nobody to take care. It could be especially dif\ufb01cult when

the children are elsewhere and there is no one around to run er- rands.

Good Governance Guards (GGG), a registered trust started by S.S. Radhakrishnan, a lawyer and international consultant, aims to solve the problem many \ufb01nd themselves in during their twilight years. Launched on May 10, GGG has 46 founding mem- bers comprising advocates, busi- nessmen and professionals of different age groups and from dif- ferent sectors.

\u201cWe offer personal services on- ly to senior citizens. This could range from paying electricity bills, undertaking repair and maintenance of the home, taking the patient to hospital, shopping for food and groceries, helping in bank-related works or anything for that matter,\u201d says Radhakrish- nan.

Radhakrishnan witnessed the agony of his advocate friend, who lived on the same street. This trig- gered in him the need to start \u2018Se- nior Citizens Support Services\u2019, says Radhakrishnan, who himself is a senior citizen.

\u201cThe bene\ufb01ciary needs to pay Rs. 500 per month to avail of any number of calls at any time of the day,\u201d says Radhakrishnan who was the former Additional Com- missioner of Customs.

While about a dozen people from South Chennai have so far registered to avail of the services, GGG is looking at around 100 en-

Take for example the case of G. Radhika (name changed), 73 years old, single and living all by herself in Besant Nagar. Four months ago she fractured her vertebra.

Her brother recently signed up for a six-month period with GGG, when she will be needing help in going to the hospital and paying bills, among others.

\u201cThe time GGG would take to attend to a service is what needs to be seen,\u201d says Radhika\u2019s broth- er, who did not want to be named, and who is yet to avail of the service.

Besides offering round-the- clock personal services, GGG is also into reviving the cooperative movement, giving management teaching, leadership training and offering free legal advice.\u25a0

Now, a helpline
that will attend
to personal
services of
senior citizens

decorated in the tri-colours of the Indian
\ufb02ag, quite literally. \u2018GalaMores\u2019, the ethnic
week celebrations at Aspire, is a week
marked for every Aspirian to pay tribute to
their culture. The campus saw four days of
\u2018Indian\u2019 celebration with each day revolving
around the tri-colour and the value each
colour carries \u2013 orange (sacri\ufb01ce), white
(truth) and green (faith).

The employees were welcomed with sweets
of the respective colours. Games were
conducted throughout the week and even
the rangoli at the entrance was put in tri-
colours. An extra ingredient, which added
spice to the event, was that Aspirians came
dressed in the respective tri-colours each

The last day witnessed
ethnic dressings and the
one who depicted his/her
roots the best was
crowned Ms. Ethnic and
Mr. Ethnic. The evening
also saw a small
celebration of pure masti,
patriotic music and other
cultural programmes.

A workshop on assorted forms of art will be conducted for women.
\u2018Festival of Arts\u2019 is on at C.U. Shah Bhavan in Purshuwalkam, where
jewellery making, self grooming, art of lamasa, etc. will be conducted.
For registration call 9884049371/ 9884061700

ay back in the 1950s, inspired by an article he read inReader\u2019s

Viscardi Jr., a pioneer for the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities, 20- year-old John Chandy wanted to do something similar. Now in 2009, 67-year-old Chandy has already helped up to 40 differently-abled persons get jobs in various industries.

For Chandy, a former Indi- an Oil Corporation employee, differently-abled persons are not objects of charity. \u201cPro- vide them with an opportuni- ty, they will prove their ability,\u201d he says.

After completing his gradu- ation in Chemistry, he opted for Associate Membership Aeronautical Society of India, a degree equivalent to B.E. Aeronautical

Engineering, and joined the aviation \ufb01eld in Indian Oil Corporation.

\u201cWhile working in IOC, I tried my level best to help people with disabilities. Whe- never calls for contract works come, I used to give prefer- ence to disabled people. But it was very dif\ufb01cult to convince the authorities.\u201d

Retirement Scheme (VRS) and bought three grounds of land near Moolakadai in Perambur to start a small-scale industrial unit for differently-abled per- sons. \u201cI recruited 15 people, which included the physically and visually-challenged, and started running the unit with contract works from Dunlop and Medimix.

My aim was not to make pro\ufb01t, but to make the com- mon people understand that even those who are consi- dered un\ufb01t by the society, in a few cases even by parents and relatives, are very much like normal people,\u201d says Chandy.

Later due to some political pressure he had to close down the unit. But he made sure that all 15 got jobs so- mewhere.

\u201cWhile working with the differently-abled, I did a study on how they could be employable and wrote a booklet on techniques to in- terview visually-challenged people,\u201d says Chandy, who in his website www.employdif- ferentlyabled.org has men- tioned his case studies in detail.

Chandy also convinced a friend and saw to it that 15 people got a job in his friend\u2019s automobile engineering unit.

\u201cMost of them were visual- ly-challenged and polio vic- tims. With proper training they successfully did tinker- ing, welding and other stren- uous works.

The initial notion that they can\u2019t work like normal people remains a mental block in their minds. Once you con- vince them and remove such thoughts, they are very much normal,\u201d says Chandy, who is now planning to start an in- dustrial therapy unit for the disabled along with Daniel Je- gannathan, an employee of HCL, who also runs Mypeo- ple, a charity organisation.

John Chandy says there are a lot of government-run training units for the dis- abled. But not everyone who passes out from these insti- tutes get jobs.

\u201cMy idea is to start an in- dustrial therapy unit, wherein both the mentally and phys- ically challenged will be given treatment as well as industrial training. Work has a ther- apeutic nature.

When they are engaged productively there will be changes physically and men- tally.

This unit will be run in col- laboration with industrial ex- perts, scientists, ergonomist and doctors,\u201d says Chandy, who has also completed a Ho- moeopathy course from the Indian Board of Alternative Medicine.

Employers who are interest- ed in recruiting physically- challenged people can contact John Chandy at 9382871214.

Also visit http://www.em- ploydifferentlyabled.org/ and http://www.mypeoplein-

Work has therapeutic value,
says John Chandy. With this in mind,
Chandy has been advocating the
employment of the differently-abled
in various sectors