From doting father to 'Kempa IAS': Visually-impaired IAS topper who defied odds
Visually impaired Kempahonnaiah, who secured 340th rank in the civil services examination this year, credits his wife for preparing audio notes.
Published: 20th July 2017 03:42 AM | Last Updated: 20th July 2017 01:32 PM | A+A A-
Kempahonnaiah with his wife and children after felicitation in Bengaluru | NAGESH POLALI
BENGALURU: Visually impaired Kempahonnaiah, who secured 340th rank in the civil services examination this year, is assumed to have topped the civil services with the help of Braille but it was his wife who prepared audio notes for him all along, he said.
Achintha S worked in Sneha Kirana Spastic Society, Mysuru, as a special educator for the mentally challenged. “She is the real IAS officer here,” Kempahonnaiah said at the felicitation ceremony. His doting sons call him ‘Kempa IAS’ lovingly. “They’ve picked it up from the TV channels,” he says. Kempahonnaiah’s parents are farmers. “My father Honnaiah passed away. My mother Muniyamma is a farmer and could not be present here today,” he said.
“I lost my vision in Class III. I studied in a government blind school. I have studied in government schools and colleges all my life,” he said. Today, he is a Kannada lecturer in Vontikoppal PU College.
“I achieved this rank only in the third attempt. My friends would sometimes come home and play lessons that were recorded on their smartphones. And my wife would read out lessons to me loudly,” he said.
His elder brother C H Nanjappa is physically challenged. “I want to concentrate on betterment of opportunities for the disabled after getting my posting. I will go wherever I am posted,” he said.
His sons fidget around with his cellphone while the shutterbugs look for that one moment where they can hold them still with their father. “The older one is Prabodh and younger one is Nibodh,” he says.
“I am happy for his success and that I could help him achieve what he wanted. I always knew he had it in him,” said Achintha.
