A message to our students from Dr. Ellangothai

Hello, everyone. My name is Ellangothai, and I have served as a communicative English trainer at the Pratibodh Foundation since 2020. I have been visually impaired since birth.

I come from Namakkal, but I did all my schooling far from home, at Little Flower Convent, Higher Secondry School for the Blind in Chennai — from the first standard right through to the twelfth. Living away was hard. In my early years I could return home only about three times a year, and from the sixth standard, when things became very difficult for my parents, I chose not to add to their burden and came home just once a year, simply to see them. I completed my schooling only after passing through that kind of hardship.

After school I went on to study a BA, an MA, and finally a PhD in English at Avinashilingam University in Coimbatore. I also cleared the National Eligibility Test, the qualification for assistant professors. When I finished my doctorate, the very first opportunity I received — as a communicative English trainer — came from the Pratibodh Foundation, and I will always remember that with pride and gratitude. Since then I have taught full-time for two years at Vellalar College for Women in Erode, and I currently serve as guest faculty at Arignar Anna Government Arts College in Namakkal.

Let me be open with you about the struggles, because some of them may be yours too. I have always longed to read widely, but when I was in school the technology we have today simply did not exist for us. To read a single book, I depended on the kindness of readers. We would prepare thoroughly for our examinations, yet we were often given scribes who did not understand our subject, and our marks would suffer for it. I overcame many obstacles like these — and what changed everything was learning to use a laptop.

Once I could write my exams on a laptop, I became the master of my own exam.

If I had studied well, I could now prove it myself. That is why, to every student in this training, I want to leave just two things — and I ask you to hold on to both.

• Skill is everything
  Communicative English and computer skills are both essential for us — it is only by building our skills that we move forward. Technology turned my own life around, as you have just read, so make full use of it. Strengthen your English. Develop every skill you can — interview skills, life skills, even cooking — because in every part of life, skill is what opens the door.

• Refuse the comfort zone
  Wherever a job takes you, be ready to go there and to work. That willingness to move is itself a sign of stepping out of our limitations and into society. Because I once endured being far from my parents, I am today able to earn a salary, run a home, and live independently. So do not tell yourself you must stay where it is comfortable — go anywhere, work, and keep growing your skills. Do both, steadily and without stopping, and your life will surely be a success.

This training is a wonderful opportunity. Make the fullest use of it — do not waste even the smallest part of it. If you do that, I have no doubt your life will be a success.

All the very best to each of you — and thank you, with all my heart.