His height and disability did not daunt him when it came to choice of earning a livelihood. Thirty three year old V. Ramesh is less than one-and-a-half feet high with both legs paralysed. And, he runs a footwear shop in Saibaba Colony.

When P. Mahendiran, Managing Trustee of Eera Nenjam, heard about Ramesh, who was not being taken care by his family and who did not have a means of livelihood, he found him a place at Karunai Illam at Kavundampalayam. In spite of all odds, Ramesh was keen to support himself.

While narrating his story to Covai Post, Ramesh said that he was denied education citing his disability. His home became his school where he learnt lessons from his sister. After the demise of his father and mother, he had to shoulder the burden of the family. He not only cleared the loans obtained by his father, but also got both his sisters married. Initially, he stayed along with his sisters.

But, the families of his brothers-in-law were not keen to make him stay with them. He was literally thrown out.

After Eera Nenjam came to his rescue, Ramesh now leads a contented life looking after his footwear shop. He is spending around Rs 8,000 per month for his transportation and other expenses shuttling between Karunai Illam and his place of business.

“What I expect is not mercy from people, but support by way of purchasing footwear from my shop,” says Ramesh.

Eera Nenjam Mahendiran says that nationalised banks should come forward to extend financial assistance to differently-abled Ramesh whose ambition is to develop his small footwear shop into a bigger one.