Raina was excited. The 27-year-old had just received a Braille watch and was showing it off to her sisters Laila and Habi.
The three visually-challenged siblings giggled as they ran their fingers over the watch’s dial to check the time again and again.
The sisters had travelled all the way from their hometown in Palakkad to participate in the two-day get-together of blind women jointly organised by the Kerala Federation of the Blind and the Ernakulam district panchayat here on Wednesday.
The trio belonged to a family of 7, which included their father Aboo Backar, a tailor, mother Nabeesa, a homemaker and 2 other sisters. Life had not been a cakewalk for them, who were visually-challenged since birth. Right from school, they had to struggle to keep up with other kids of their age. However, the sisters went on to get their BEd degree despite the disability.
“It was the support from our family and friends that pulled us through. Our teachers, too, were patient with us, dictating the notes slowly and paying a lot of attention to us,” said Habi, the eldest of the lot.
They not only excelled in studies but also in other fields as well.
“We used to reap prizes whenever we participated in extra-curricular activities. Raina is a good sportsperson and Habi always stood first in Braille reading and writing contests,” said Laila.
And Laila is a beautiful singer, Raina chipped in. Meanwhile, the sisters also mastered the use of computers.
Besides, the sisters also have a secret talent. They can memorise any phone number and recall it much later. “We just remember the service provider in place of the first 4 numbers and remember the rest of the numbers. It is more like a telephone dictionary,” giggled Habi. Currently Raina is pursuing her Masters in Islamic studies at Madras University, while Laila is doing her second year Political Science and Habi is planning to study MA History.
However, these differently-abled sisters find it hard to get a job despite being well-qualified. “We have been searching for a good job for a long time now. We hope to find something soon,” said Raina.