My motive of writing this article is to bring to your knowledge another inspirational story of an inspiring person named Mr. Ajay Minocha. Here I would start this article with Shakespeare’s words: ‘Life is never easy for those who dream.’ These words somewhere reflect in our story.
Ajay, a boy from Faridabad, was born with severe incurable visual impairment called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). It took him some time to adapt to the turns in his life. However, the constant support and encouragement from friends and family enabled him to believe in himself and in his abilities-a virtue that he values the most. With time, Ajay’s eye-sight went on deteriorating further and presently he is left with around 10% eyesight. Like any other visually impaired person, Ajay’s life has also been full of difficulties and odds but he never let these obstacles come in his way. He completed his primary education in a main stream school which was based in slums. After this, his mother wanted him to move to a school that could provide him with more opportunities and a better holistic education. It was not that easy to get admission in such an institution but he with his persistent hard work got the admission and slowly adapted to the new environment and started taking advantage of all that the school had to offer. Ajay says, “In this journey, my mother always proved to be pillar of strength, supporting me in every possible way.” His hard work, intelligence and good management skills, coupled with his mother’s efforts helped him to emerge as an efficient leader, managing his duty as a `class monitor`. He did his schooling in Hindi medium but later he switched over to English medium. He worked on his English skills and achieved a commendable hold here too!
After completing his school, Ajay started pondering over his skills, interests and various career options. He researched about the facilities and opportunities available for the visually impaired persons and found out that he was indeed meant for management. Soon after getting in touch with the visually impaired people who have excelled in this highly dynamic and competitive corporate environment, he decided to get into management studies.
During his graduation, he not only focused on his management studies but also paid a considerable time for preparing for CAT examination. Soon his hard work paid off and he cleared this highly prestigious examination. And then 21st May, 2012 was witness to that achievement of his life which he values the most. On this day, he was selected to pursue his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management, Indore. Ajay says, “The life at a business school is very challenging yet the motivation to do something different gets me going everyday.”
A peep into Ajay’s achievements
Ajay has always been a dedicated student and a keen learner. It is because of this yearning to learn coupled with gusto that in November 2012, he represented India at a global I.T. Challenge for Youth with Disabilities in South Korea. There he won the second prize and made our country proud. Not only this, with a broad vision in mind to contribute to the society, he joined a group called ‘YOUNG Voices’ in February 2012. This group works for the protection of rights of the persons with disabilities. In this capacity, he has been active in leading several initiatives and projects, and has negotiated with several organizations to ensure a more accessible India. One of these initiatives includes correspondence with the Delhi Transport Corporation to install talking GPS devices in its buses to make bus travel convenient for all. Ajay says, “My management skills also led me towards the position of groups’ coordinator (September 2012).” Ajay scored 1st rank in his final year of graduation and 3rd rank in the overall course. In addition to this, he has also addressed several seminars to empower people about the importance of technology in their lives.
Today, In IIM, Ajay is not only performing well in academics but has also been a senior member of Debating Society. In campus, he is amongst the top 30 % in a 450 batch. Ajay says, “I look upon myself as a responsible global citizen, equipped with the skills to make a positive difference in not only my community, but the globe.”
