Harish Parab
Harish Parab was born with eyes shut. He could not even open his eyelids. The parents realised that their child had an eyesight issue. But no doctor could advise or guide them on the correct treatment. As he was told by his parents that on his first birthday he could open his right eye a little, and by the time he was two years old, he could open his left eye. But there was no vision. The blood vessels and capillaries that supply blood to the eye to function were all blocked. No eye treatment has a solution for this problem, so the family accepted that Harish would never see the light of the day.
Schooling started, and Harish went to Sanjay School at Porvorim for three months. His father who worked in MPT, took leave and dropped and picked him up for some time. Later his mother began dropping him to school. This went on for three months. Then a day came when the school asked the parents to take Harish to some school that had a training facility for visually impaired kids. At that point of time Sanjay School did not have that facility. This was in 1998. Harish was admitted to Lokvishwas Pratishthan School at Dhavali, Ponda. The year was 2005 and the day, June 6. Harish was 11 years old when he joined class one. The schooling began late for him. But once admitted to this school, there was no looking back. Harish passed SSC without any difficulty.
“I recall my teachers at Lokvishwas “ the then principal Nutan Naik, teachers Dhanashree Jambaulikar who taught us to cook, Laxmikant Naik who encouraged us to participate in sports and Kamal Parge who taught me harmonium. We played many indoor games in school and won prizes too. I was good at javelin throw and shot put, but used to stumble while running,“ recalls Harish who wanted to study further, and do HSSC, but fate took him elsewhere. He had already lost his father when he was in class IV, and mother Kanchan Parab raised him and his siblings.
After SSC, Harish began to run his family shop, which was shut all this while. Then he started running a fast food joint at Ecossim. He did it for six months in 2015 and then gave it on rent to someone to run till 2020. During Covid pandemic the food joint was shut too. His income came to a halt. A friend from Marcel, Omkar Sahasrabhuddhe advised him to do some small business, and try selling dhup, agarbattis and perfumes for livelihood. So Harish tried his luck and in November 2022 he started this business on a small scale.
“I travelled to Pune and Nagpur independently to bring these items on wholesale rate and sold them in Goa at temples and zatras. My financial condition improved,” says Harish, who has a brother Trivikram and two sisters, Shubhada and Akshada. His supportive family helped him cope with his condition and always encouraged him. Meanwhile, his sister came across an advertisement in the newspaper about a job in the RTO department in Panaji, which was for people with disabilities. Harish applied for that and after interviews and other processes he finally got the job at MTS on August 21, 2023. He still continues with this job, and has restricted his agarbatti business. But he likes to travel and often does tours to religious places outside Goa.
When Goa had its first Blind Cricket Match, Harish played cricket in the Goa team against Maharashtra. Since then he has played many cricket matches in Goa. In his pastime he plays the harmonium. “My brother-in-law, who is in the orchestra, teaches me on weekends and I enjoy music,” smiles Harish who used to participate in music competitions in school. Now the hobby has remained with him for life.
“There are challenges, ups and downs in my journey. I want to continue my education. I also want to voice the issues of the persons with disabilities. We have to struggle at every step. We are working towards making Goa a better place to live in for the PwDs. Just need some ears that will listen to us,” concludes Harish.
