CTH Story of Venkatesh Yethiraj

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Cross the Hurdles brings you the inspiring story of Mr. Venkatesh Yethiraj who has achieved success despite of all the odds that came in the way. Here are the excerpts from our talk with Venkatesh.

About Venkatesh Yethiraj

Venkatesh has been a sports person since 1994 and has taken part in various national and international sport events.He plays badminton, cricket,volley ball, athletics, discus throw etc.He has won us many medals in various sports.He has been honored by the Karnataka Government with the following awards:

• Ekalavya Award – for the outstanding performance in the field of sports for the year 2005.
• Kannada Rajosthava Award - for the outstanding performance in the field of sports for the year 2004.

Venkatesh says, "I stand only three feet and nine inches tall, but deeds and achievements on the sporting arena have made me tower over many of my contemporaries. I have bagged more than 19 international and 35 national medals in arena of paraplegic sports".

Quick Fire!

1. Favorite movie(s)
Old Hindi Movies

2. Favorite books
Pappion

3. Favorite color
Blue

4. Craziest thing that you have ever done in your life
During the deepvali festival in my child hood I had lighted sparklers and left .All of a sudden the fire broke out in my room, my parents put off the fire with putting water.

5. Most Valuable thing that you have purchased till now
Mobile Phone

6. If you are marooned on an island what 5 things you would like to keep with you?
First thing I will do is try to get near shore, the second thing I pray to the god everything happened was for good.

7. Favorite food
North Indian Dishes

8. Your biggest strength
Motivation

9. If you take birth again, who would you like to be born as?
Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam

10. The thing(s) that you hate
Selfishness and ego

11. The first thing you do right after awaking up in the morning
I pray to the god that the day should be full of smiles and good news.

12. The last thing you before falling asleep in the night
I thank the god for all the things that happened on the day

13. You prefer sons or daughters
Both a son and a daughter

14. If world is going to be destroyed in next 5 minutes. What would you do during this time?
I would pray to the god.

15. What was your resolution on the new year?
Let the new year bring happiness, joy and peace through out the year.

16. The best gift that somebody can offer to you?
Smile

17. Your bedroom take fire what would you rescue at first?
I will protect my merit certificates that I had won.

18. The town/country that you want to visit
Canada & New Zealand

19. If you can meet one person of your choice, dead or alive, known or not, who would this be?
Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam

20. If you could change one thing your past, what would it be?
Ego and hatred.

Interview of Venkatesh Yethiraj by CTH

Did you find any problems while you were doing your studies. I mean did lack of infrastructure in the Indian scenario pose any kind of problems for you?

I didn’t face any problem during studies.

How do you manage your day to day activities a brief description i.e. with somebody's help or you are able to cope up with routine activities yourself?

I get up early in the morning do some exercises, feed the birds, my routine work is done by myself without any help from anybody in my family or friends.

What would you like to change in your life if you got one chance to change?

Develop the physically challenged people, give them job opportunities and make places disabled friendly.

Do you feel India is a disabled friendly country? What all needs to be done?

India is not a disabled friendly, many public and private transports don’t have wheel chair accessibility. Compare to other parts of the world India is not bothered to develop accessibility for the physically challenged persons.

Have you ever felt any kind of emotional outbursts or complexes due to your physical status? If yes then how could you manage it?

When I go to attend interviews for my job, when the interviewer sees me I feel embarrassed and feel bad about my disability.

What are your hobbies or leisure time activities?

Browse internet, read news papers, magazines.

How do you react when somebody pities you?

I feel very frustrated and tell them that we don’t need sympathy but we only need opportunities.

Have you ever been discriminated because of your disability?
No

What do you think of Cross the Hurdles?

Cross the Hurdles spreads the message to all the physically challenged people what’s happening around the world with technology and the people.