CHENNAI: If you are cribbing about the discomfort caused by incessant rain, spare a thought for four disabled siblings who are somehow coping with the situation on their own amidst their everyday struggle called life. A rope that runs across all rooms in the house and their hands to provide balance are all they depend upon for mobility within the house at Foreshore Estate here. If there is a flood or water enters their house due to incessant rain, they perhaps will have to wait for help till their sister Suguna returns home after work from Anna Nagar.
The four — Viswanathan (50), Devarajan (48), Karpagam (40) and Jayaraman (35) — have been diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, a genetic disorder often associated with poor coordination of eyes, hands and speech. Suguna works as a sanitary worker in Chennai corporation.
Three of them — Devarajan, Karpagam and Jayaraman — hold the rope that runs through all the three rooms, including the washroom, with one hand and use the wall to rest the other hand and move around the house. Viswanathan, who cannot stand, moves around the house by resting his palm on the floor.
If water leaks inside the house due to rain, they have to be more cautious on the slippery floor. Even if they fall down, they have to wait for help from neighbours or relatives, which is rare because they do not have visitors often.
“The recent rain not only ruined the mud path to their house, but caused leaks in various parts of the house. But the maximum they can do is place buckets in those places and wait for their sister to return in the evening to empty the filled or sometimes overflowing buckets. “Neither of us can carry anything heavy as our hands quiver. There have been incidents where I have dropped hot sambar and coffee on myself because of this quivering,” recalled Karpagam.
“A few months back, the condition of the house was even worse. In fact, every night I would wake up to see whether the ceiling had fallen, but Suguna somehow borrowed money and fixed the roof. But what if the rain gets worse and we are marooned? That’s what we fear,” she said.
Walking down memory lane, Viswanathan said, “We were all fine till we were in the teens; all four of us fell ill and later were crippled. We were seven siblings. One sister Chandra died during the 2004 tsunami while another sister Vimala is married and settled in the city. She visits us every week. Suguna is the other sister who has sacrificed her life for us,” he added.
“Even when we fall sick, we have to depend on somebody in the neighbourhood to lift us up to the autorickshaw or any other vehicle to reach the hospital. Finding a mode of transport is even more troublesome. So during the rain, we ensure we are safe to avoid being a burden on others,” says Devarajan.
Jayaraman, who is suffering from mental disability, is not aware of anything, but always has a smile on his face. When most people complain about discomforts caused by rain, this family is coping with the incessant downpour amidst its everyday struggle. The siblings are pinning their hopes on Suguna who is trying to find a safe shelter for her family.