Nothing can be more disheartening than seeing the beautiful world with its bright colors one day and blurring them out gradually from your life over time and finally seeing literally nothing even when your eyes are open.
This happened to Umesh Labana who wasn’t born visually impaired but found himself slowly losing vision as his age advanced. By the time he entered class 9, he found himself as a 100 percent visually challenged person. But he didn’t lose hope and went on to clear the toughest examination of India in his third attempt.
LOST HIS VISION GRADUALLY
Umesh’s story is of a humble village boy rising from a dead-end. He credits his success to his struggle, hard work, and a support system based on human relationships and technology that helped him reach such an accomplishment.
Born and brought up in the Kolar village near Nahan in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Umesh studied in a government school. It was during his teen years, around the time he entered class 9th when he realized that he was losing his vision drastically.
“I used to peddle bicycle and race a motorbike to charm, my fellow friends, at the village. My vision was deteriorating gradually, yet I could distinguish light and darkness. But, by the time I had reached class 9, my vision had blurred almost totally. I was not sure if I will be able to complete the 10th or 12th. But for the support of my father, Daljit Singh, who used to read out lessons for me, and mother, who was a school teacher, I almost had to quit my studies”, says Umesh.
TRED ALL POSSIBLE WAYS
Umesh’s parents knocked on many doors and even tried to get his admission done at the National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun. However, it did not work.
“By this time, I was informed about the availability of braille books and screen readers for visually impaired persons. One of the great motivating persons was Dinesh Sood, a visually challenged teacher at Nahan, who trained me in braille within three days at his house. Thereafter, I never had to look back,” says Umesh Labana.
AN ACTIVE STUDENT
Umesh has always been a dreamer. He wishes to do everything that a normal person can do. His curiosity about life made him one of the most likable and proactive students in his university when he went to Shimla for his Post Graduation. He recalls how his perceptions about life changed as his fellow students and teachers never allowed him to feel his disabilities.
“In the classrooms, Umesh used to be quite proactive, asking questions to clear doubts and participating in discussions. He used to maintain all his lecture notes at his laptop and revised them word to word in the evening before going to the next day’s class,” recalls Prof Ajay Srivastava, who is an expert member at Himachal Pradesh University’s Advisory board for physically challenged persons.
UPSC CSE 2020
Such motivation led him to prepare for the UPSC CS examination. Everyone that he knew supported him during his preparation. The entire village came together to motivate the 28-year-old through his journey. And all that support paid off, when Umesh cleared the UPSC CSE 2020 examinations in his third attempt, with AIR-397!
The celebration of his victory started at his village since the day the newspapers and social media flashed his name among the achievers in the civil service exam. Congratulatory messages started pouring in from all around. His villagers said that this is “not a simple achievement.”
Umesh looked forward to joining the elite IAS service and working on projects to change the mindset of society towards physically challenged or visually impaired people.
“It’s not all about cracking the UPSC exam but an example for thousands struggling with physical disabilities to change their destiny with determination and hard work. I also want to tell youths not to make UPSC a question of life and death. If not the first time, make the second attempt and also the third, as I did after failing my first two attempts in 2018 and 2019,” he says.
His journey from Kolar to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where he is pursuing his P.hD in Political Science, is inspiring, heart-warming, and highly motivating for people fighting physical disabilities.
