CHENNAI: While relocating to Chennai from the outskirts of Thoothukudi in 2005, S Sankara Gomathi was pretty clueless. Coming from a low-income family, her aim was to bring medical aid to her three-year-old daughter with intellectual disability. “I was new to the city with no relatives or friends here. Still, I took this decision for the sake of my daughter’s treatment,” says 57-year-old Gomathi to TNIE.
On December 3, 2022, her 22-year-old daughter S Indu Uma Ezhilarasi received a national award for empowering persons with disabilities under the self-employment category, from Draupadi Murmu, President of India.
With 80% intellectual disability, Indu can’t speak, walk, or behave like everyone. But she is aware of the world she lives in and feels every bit of it through her mother. While Indu is busy making tiny greeting cards with lovely pictures of the rising sun, birds and coconut trees using straw and other natural materials, her mother says, “In order to survive in a city like Chennai and to carry out Indu’s treatment, I needed a stable income. All I knew was to craft items like greeting cards, jute bags, scented candles, silk thread jewellery, and computer sambrani. I also managed to tailor and sketch. I made a living out of these and after gaining confidence, I started Ezhil Karan Enterprises in 2017 to sell my products and train people in these skills.”
Along with running the enterprise, Gomathi also passed down her skills to her daughter. Indu now makes greeting cards using straws and tries her hand at tailoring too. More than being a source of income, the skills assist her to stay active and engaged, which is vital for her condition.
“Indu engaging in such activities made me realise that all disabled individuals can be trained, which will help in their treatment. It is then that I started coaching disabled people in drawing, tailoring and handicrafts for free,” says Gomathi, who has three more children – S Karan Vignesh Kumar, 80% intellectually disabled, BSMS graduate S Karthik Nagarajan, and MSc Yoga graduate S Nagalakshmi.
Gomathi also manufactures herbal sanitary napkins, made of 100% natural cotton, tulsi, aloe vera, neem, and turmeric. “Majority of the customers for this product are from my apartment where there are over 5,000 houses. Most come and purchase the product directly and adore its natural fragrance and quality,” gushes Gomathi.
She adds that napkins are the most sought-after item manufactured by her enterprise. In order to meet the demand, she outsources individuals and charges `1 per pad from them. Additionally, over 20 people work in the enterprise for napkin production alone. “My plan is to approach government hospitals and primary health centres to market this product,” she said.
At present, she receives orders for handicrafts from the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation as well as private entities from districts including Madurai, Tiruchy and Nagercoil. But what makes Gomathi happy is the fact that her enterprise is assisting disabled individuals like her children to stay active. “The national award has become a motivation for all of us to go forward with the present activities. If my daughter could make it, anyone can,” she said.
Gomathi applied for this award for disabled individuals with the help of the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, where she worked as a mentor for eight years, conducting self-employment classes for disabled people, children, and their parents. In the wake of COVID-19, she resigned from this job and became completely involved with her enterprise. When asked about her ambition, the mother added, “After all, I am a proud mother of two disabled children and this is the least I can do for them and myself.”
LEAVING MGR AMAZED
Gomathi used to paint on greeting cards using straw as a kid. When she was 17, her father S Swaminathan met former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran and presented Sankara Gomathi’s art to him. The then CM was amazed at her talent and recommended Thoothukudi Poompuhar Corporation to provide her with orders. This was her first income. Later, she made paintings for other politicians from the state.