KOCHI: Aji Kumar S V,40, is wheelchair-bound. He has been earning a living by makingeco-friendly seed pens for several years now. Aji hails from Poovachal in Thiruvananthapuram and has been wheelchair-ridden for the past 20 years. He had to fight all odds to become financially independent. Now, Aji is on a mission to empower the disabled by teaching them to craft seed pens and other eco-friendly products. He collects seeds locally and inserts them inside each paper-pen, which when discarded becomes a tree/plant.
“I was just 20 years old when I met with an accident that injured my spine. I ended up in a wheelchair but I was not ready to give up. I had to fight so hard to reach this position. I started making products for a living. I wanted my life to be better. Around three years ago I started making eco-friendly paper pens which became an instant hit. I started getting orders,” says Aji, who makes a wide range of eco-friendly products such as cloth bags, paper bags, pens, umbrellas, paper files, paper folders, wall decors, artificial flowers, soaps etc.
The paper pens are priced at `6 to `14 and are made of magazine/ glossy paper.Aji has trained around 5000 people, including disabled and school children. “I have trained around 1500- 1600 disabled people, I want to train more. Some of the bed-ridden patients, areinto making products,” says Aji.Aji who lives with his wife and mother feels that the government should extend more support to physically challenged people.
“Its really disheartening that the government is not doing much for people like us. Instead of promoting us, they bargain with us. Recently I got a bulk order from the Secretariat and they were bargaining about the price of paper pens. We are not asking for charity but they could at least pay us a better price for our products,” says Aji.
He feels that the government should give more consideration for the differently-abled. “My urge to the government is to include us in this fast-paced world by giving disabled-friendly infrastructure. I travel a lot to collect raw materials and travelling is the biggest challenge. Developments should be more inclusive and the authorities should treat us like any other human being. That’s my only plea,” Aji adds.