One year after losing my sight completely, I started charting out my plan to pursue music as all visually challenged people stereotypically do. But life had other plans. Encouraged by a couple of school friends, I filled the form for the Common Law Admission Test and prepared for it for a month. With one-to-one mentorship by sympathetic faculty at a coaching institute, who offered to personally help me out even when the institute refused to provide soft copies of the examination material over copyright concerns, I got a decent score. Everybody speculated that I would make it to the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore. But I dismissed such speculation because I felt that my father would not let me go because of my disability.
Days after the announcement of the results for the general category and hundreds of unanswered calls to the CLAT consortium seeking update on the release of results of the special ability person (SAP) category, I finally received an intimation that I was AIR 4 in the category and I had made it to the NLSIU. My happiness knew no bounds and so did my fear. To my surprise, my father readily agreed to send me to the NLSIU and the challenges began.
We did not get any intimation from the admission office regarding the special accommodations for SAP students till the date of orientation. I had heard that no 100% blind person had graduated from the law school before me. So I did not have anyone to look at, for inspiration and guidance. My father and I landed in Bangalore in a sheer sense of confusion and uncertainty.
