'This is the only life I know and I am content with it' — impressive words coming from an 18-year-old who was born without hands.
“This is the only life I know and I am content with it” — impressive words coming from an 18-year-old who was born without hands.
But that is how Nadeem Shaikh is — nonchalant about being physically challenged and pushing himself to lead a fuller and richer life.
“People just assume that I cannot have a so-called normal life because I have a couple of limbs missing. And when I tell them that I don’t need hands since I can do all my daily chores with my legs, they are dumbfounded,” he says.
Nadeem, who uses his toes and feet for everything from brushing his teeth to answering his mobile phone and writing his exam papers, is also an artist.
His work is reproduced on greeting cards, calendars and bookmarks sold by the Indian Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (IMFPA), an association that trains and supports physically challenged artists.
Five years ago, his teachers at the Society for Education for the Crippled (SEC) Day School in Agripada spotted Nadeem’s talent and urged him to get in touch with IMFPA.
“I was pleasantly surprised when they responded by sending their volunteers to my house to see my work,” he says.
Since then, the association has been depositing a fixed amount in Nadeem’s bank account every month. “This money is for buying art materials such as paper, water colours and brushes. After the paintings are approved, they are reproduced on cards, calendars or bookmarks. The association’s marketing network then sells these in India and abroad. I receive a part of the proceeds from the sales,” he explains.
Nadeem, who says he would like to become a famous painter like MF Husain some day, is the youngest of six siblings in a low-income household.
He insists that his mother, two brothers and three sisters are supportive without being overly protective. Currently studying in Std XII at Ismail Yusuf College in Jogeshwari, Nadeem is thankful that neither his teachers nor classmates treat him differently.
“Even my best friends, Asghar and Sonia, are cool with the fact that I am physically challenged. Since no one ever brings it up, I don’t feel any different from those around me. We do the same things — study, eat out, go for movies, the only difference between us being that I use toes instead of fingers,” he says with a laugh.
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