In 1994, Corporal Manoj Kumar was part of the Indian Air Force team practising a pilot rescue drill at Pathankot, when he suffered a severe injury to the head. In 1998, he completely lost his eye sight, and was medically boarded out of service. However, he didn’t give up. He leant Braille, went on to get a bachelor’s degree in Education and M.A. in Hindi before completing his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 2020.
Since 2008, he has been employed as a teacher at the J. P. M. Senior Secondary School for the Blind at Lodhi Road in the national capital run by the Blind Relief Association and is the author of four books. On Thursday, Mr. Kumar met Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande at his South Block office and presented one of his books, Ghati Ko Grahan published in 2021.
The Army Chief applauded the efforts of Dr. Manoj Kumar in the field of education and noted that he never let his disability come in the way of his zeal to pursue higher education and creating quality literature, a defence official said. Gen. Pande also applauded his spouse for being a pillar of strength to Mr. Kumar despite heavy odds.
Mr. Kumar joined the Air Force in June 1989 and underwent his recruitment training at Airmen Training School, Belgaum followed by posting at Pathankot.
On the details of his injury, another defence official said Mr. Kumar was part of a commando team and while practising pilot rescue techniques during air crashes, he entered a fire-fighting truck in complete darkness and hit his head on a bar.
Initially, he was fine but the next day his eyes turned red and he was admitted to the military hospital, Pathankot, where he was treated. However, the redness kept recurring every two months and he started losing eye sight, the official explained. He was operated thrice but lost his eyesight gradually. In 1996, he lost vision of one eye and in 1998, lost vision completely, the official added.
However, far from giving up, he turned a mentor and scholar. In 2006-07, he trained blind kids in martial arts at the Durgabai Deshmukh College of Special Education, Delhi University and worked as special teacher at Infant Jesus Senior Secondary School in 2007-08.
Mr. Kumar has published 12 research papers in national and international journals and published his first book Gulam Azadi in 2015. His fourth book Prem Chand Ke Dalit Evam Shoshit Patron Ki Mook Vedna is set to be published very soon. The earlier books were published in Hindi as well as Braille language.
