Vijai Pranav

When I was barely a year old, my parents discovered that I wasn’t responding to their screams while standing in front of the Television. A test revealed hearing loss. At the age of one, when no child goes to school, I was enrolled in Bala Vidyalaya School, a school for the deaf. After four years of learning the basics of speech, I joined Sherwood Hall Senior Secondary School. The Principal was a Special Educator herself and welcomed children with disabilities, while all other prime educational institutions were busy turning them away.
Growing up, I was always interested in sports. I was initially attracted to cricket but the game bored me. I wanted to play a sport where I would not only be fighting hard till the end to win, but could also improve my skills of communication and networking; that’s when I discovered BasketBall. I used to play with my team for hours and devise strategies to communicate with them. But I was discouraged from participating in competitive teams, under the ruse that I could not hear the whistle. But I figured out a way. I started studying the body language of the players and monitored their movements closely. When they froze, I froze. Soon, I developed the necessary skill sets and never faced any discrimination until I was selected for the State Sub – juniors. The school coach was upset that his favourite player was not selected. Then, he used my disability against me in a smear campaign which ended up costing me a spot in the State School Team. I was angry and hurt, but that did not deter me from attending state selection rounds.
This setback also motivated me to explore other opportunities, which is when I met my mentor Mr. Chandran. Ever since then, I went on to play for the Tamil Nadu state basketball team for 8 years, captained the State Youth Team and also represented Tamil Nadu at all levels, including juniors. Meanwhile, I shifted schools and joined Bala Vidya Mandir. Life came a full circle when during the regional finals, I was adjudged as the Most Valuable player, in front of the coach who had spread lies.
Thereafter, I underwent training at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA, and was the only hearing-impaired player playing at the National level. Subsequently, I got an opportunity to play for ACG NBA and was a member of their “All-Stars” team.
After schooling, I wanted to pursue law but was told it would be a wrong career choice ; when I was unable to put forth my own views, how would I articulate those of others? But I had made my choice – I would be the voice of those who needed one. I thereafter went on to pursue my master’s in International business law, at the Queen Mary University of London. I also took part in the selections for the university basketball team and was one of the 5 players selected among the 200 players.
Throughout my life, I have been discriminated against, treated unfairly, and pre-judged but I have chosen never to play the victim card. All said and done, in the end, it’s only WE who will decide OUR destiny and standing in society and nobody else.