KOCHI: Birthdays were never very special for Amjith A, a final-year BA Economics student at Kothamangalam Mar Athanasius College. However, his birthday this year was something he would never forget, thanks to his classmates.
This year, Amjith’s classmates decided not to go on their annual study tour. Instead, they pooled money and bought him an electric wheelchair.
“Amjith has been differently-abled since birth; his hands and legs are not functional. However, he overcame his disability to perform extremely well in academics. He has never missed a single day’s class in these three years,” Eldhose A M, the head of the economics department, told TNIE. He said Amjith hails from a financially backward family.
On Monday, Amjith’s classmates organised for him a birthday celebration, complete with cake and sweets. “However, he was surprised when he saw his friends enter with the electric wheelchair,” Eldhose said. He said Amjith’s classmates spent the Rs 60,000 that they had set aside for the study tour for the wheelchair. “This birthday is an unforgettable occasion for him,” Eldhose said.
The son of Ayyappankutty and Ambika, Amjith hails from Pattermal village in Plamudi Nellithandu in Ernakulam’s Kottappady panchayat. He would reach the college riding pillion on his mother’s scooter and from the entrance, his classmates would take him to the classroom in the college’s wheelchair.
Amjith was speechless. “I am grateful for the love and consideration my friends and teachers have been showering on me,” he said. The new wheelchair was handed over to Amjith by college principal Dr Manju Kurian. Taking note of the students’ kind gesture, Manju, as a return gift, allocated money for the final-year students’ recreational trip.
For his friends, the sight of a beaming Amjith passing through the college’s corridors on his new wheelchair while they cheered him on was the best return gift they could ask for.