MALAPPURAM: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) may have weakened 12-year-old Kasyap Ram’s muscles, but the disease has not affected his will power. The Mookkuthala native, who is also battling autism, has been winning hearts ever since he launched his YouTube channel ‘Love Laugh Live with Ani’. The channel now has 17,200 subscribers and has won him a place in the India Book of Records for being an inspiration to other children with disabilities.
Kasyap who has been confined to the wheelchair for two years has so far produced 400 videos with the help of his family. He narrates stories and sings songs he picked up over the years. He also shares details of his daily activities and loves to engage the audience with his cooking videos and travels.
“My latest video is about the gifts I received from my relatives for winning the award,” Kasyap told TNIE. Kasyap’s mother Divya says many people, including BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan, visited the house after Kasyap won the award. Kasyap is looking forward to upload the videos based on these visits.
The fun activities, according to the family, has kept Kasyap engaged. Divya, who quit her job as a teacher to look after Kasyap, said he walked and did all his activities on his own till he was nine years old. When he became confined to a wheelchair, I decided to stay with him at any cost. We noticed he had a flair of imitating other YouTubers and decided we should start a YouTube channel for him. This is how ‘Love Laugh Live with Ani’ kicked off. It keeps him engaged and happy,” Divya said. Her sister Dhanya edits the videos for the channel.
Kasyap is now a Class 7 student at the PCN GHSS, Mookkuthala. His father Shajesh, who works as a junior superintendent at the Tirur sub court, and his brother Kasinath, a Class 8 student of PCN school, are also a great source of strength for Kasyap.
“We don’t preplan any of the videos. Divya shoots videos whenever Kasyap feels like doing one. Recently, he asked us to shoot a memory test video at 1am since he was not getting sleep. Divya and Kasinath shot the video for him. He is our world,” Shajesh said.