Forty-year-old Dhananjay Kaviskar makes his way through shoppers at a store in Colaba. Born with weak vision, Dhananjay lost his eyesight completely at the age of six, and his father soon after. He helped his mother make ends meet by taking up odd jobs as a phone booth attendant or a store assistant, till one day, with some help from a blind school in Worli, he was given his own public phone booth to run near his home in Santacruz. A few years later, he got married and is now father to a son.
Forty-year-old Dhananjay Kaviskar makes his way through shoppers at a store in Colaba. Born with weak vision, Dhananjay lost his eyesight completely at the age of six, and his father soon after. He helped his mother make ends meet by taking up odd jobs as a phone booth attendant or a store assistant, till one day, with some help from a blind school in Worli, he was given his own public phone booth to run near his home in Santacruz. A few years later, he got married and is now father to a son. Six months ago, however, he took up a job with a computer hardware firm in Byculla as a delivery man. With mobile companies reducing rates and offering competitive packages, his phone booth earnings had taken a beating. His current salary, Rs 6,000, isn’t great either, but Dhananjay is happy to have a job that guarantees a stable income. His boss is kind, assigning him mostly deliveries of invoices or tiny pieces of hardware and compensating him for travel expenses. As for the phone booth, it is still there, manned by his mother, or sometimes his wife
More Columns
Travellers on Trial Bhavya Dore
Sahir’s Legacy Kaveree Bamzai
The Devi Mystique Bibek Debroy