A tale of two capitals: Sorrow in Chennai, joy in Thiruvananthapuram

A curious conversation took place between Adarsh, a child participant, and his mother Priya at the ‘Inclusive Sports’ section of the Kerala State School Sports & Games in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

Adarsh: “Thanks to me, you could visit Thiruvananthapuram.”
Priya: “I also travelled to Chennai, because of you.”
Adarsh: “At that time, I was unwell. Now, it is not so.”

C Priya, a resident of Chembra in Pattambi, and her son M T Adarsh, a student of Class 7, have seen only two capital cities so far. The first was Chennai. They had travelled to the Tamil Nadu capital for a surgery to remove Adarsh’s cancer-affected right eye. He was only six and ahalf years then. Their second trip to a state capital was to participate in the school games in Thiruvananthapuram.

While the first trip was immersed in sorrow, Kerala capital brought glory and joy to the son and his mother. Adarsh won the gold medal in 100m for visually challenged students in the under-14 category at the state school games. The mother and son, who led a gloomy life, suddenly had a big reason to celebrate.

Adarsh developed an eye disease when he was barely two-and-a-half years old. Tests revealed that he was suffering from ‘retino blastoma’, a rare cancer of the eye. After treatments failed, Adarsh was taken to a private ophthalmic hospital in Chennai, where his right eye was removed surgically and an artificial eye was inserted.

At the sports event in Thiruvananthapuram, Adarsh had to compete with both his eyes covered. A guide runner was provided for each of the blindfolded contestants to prevent crossing of tracks. Muhammed Aslam, a Class 8 student from Muthalamada, was Adarsh’s guide runner. During the event, Adarsh’s mother Priya waited at the finishing line, her eyes welled up with tears.

Adarsh studies at CUPS, Chembra, while his mother is a temporary teacher at Paruthoor HS.