The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Ambition drives this gritty woman

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 31, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ambition drives this gritty woman

Staff Reporter

Job of a college lecturer remains an elusive dream for five years

NURTURING HOPES: Determined to become a lecturer. — Photo: V. Ganesan

Chennai: When she speaks, her eyes sparkle with zeal. However, for the prospective recruiters of K. Sujatha (31), this hardly matters. Instead, they worry about her height of two feet five inches and the disability of her legs.

For this school, college and university topper in B.Sc. and M.Sc. Zoology , the pain of growing up and coping with her physical disability pales in comparison with the mental agony she undergoes when college authorities refuse to hire her as a lecturer. She has even passed the requisite State-level Educational Testing (SLET) examination.

Bus journeys

During her stint at school, Bharathi Womens' College and Presidency College, Sujatha's mother helped her board the bus while her friends assisted her to alight at college. "From the bus stop, I usually take an autorickshaw to my house, as I cannot walk long distances at a stretch," she says. She aspires to become a lecturer and take up Ph.D. Due to the onus of looking after her aged parents, Sujatha has postponed her plans to pursue a Ph.D programme. All she wants is a teacher's job and this has eluded her for the past five years.

When she applied for the B.Sc. course, she was initially rejected owing to her height. Not bogged down, she lodged a complaint with authorities at the Secretariat and the college authorities were directed to admit her. "After a year, I secured very good marks and the college management was glad to have me as a student," she says with pride.

She travelled to New Delhi to attend an interview for a UPSC post in Pondicherry University. "But there has been no reply, though they appreciated my performance during the interview," she recalls.

An interview for the post of a guest lecturer in a city college left painful memories as Sujatha was taunted and humiliated, almost to the point of tears. "However, there are others who speak nicely and convince me against taking up the job," this gritty woman says.

She supports her family, working as an LIC agent.

Lack of mobility, however, hampers her from achieving her annual target.

She has also completed diploma courses in tailoring, fashion designing and a beautician course as well.

Lot of pain

"I underwent a lot of pain to complete my studies. However, I face much more mental agony and frustration now," she rues.

Her father K. N. Krishnamoorthy, a retired government official in sub-ordinate courts, and mother K. Gayathri share their daughter's dream too.

Sujatha's parting words were poignant: "There is a question mark in my life - my future. I am unable to apply my mind fully and concentrate. I do not want sympathy. I want a job as a lecturer and am confident I can do well with the help of the latest tools in technology," she says, forgetting her worries.

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