Thirty two-year-old Bhuma runs a grocery shop in Varandivel village in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district. This is not her first venture. Afflicted with polio on both her legs, Bhuma crawls but never weeps. She always has a bright smile on her extremely pretty face. Gifted with guts, this brave girl has never cited her handicap as a reason to seek special attention or favours.
After completing her Higher Secondary School, she tried to graduate through distance education. But unable to manage without teachers, she gave up and took up work in a STD booth. At the same time, she used to take lessons in a computer centre.
Bhuma then applied to Indian Oil Corporation for a petrol pump under the handicapped quota. Shockingly, the IOC ignored her application to give the pump to a partially-deaf wife of a Chief Education Officer.
Shocking because on one side we have a polio-afflicted single woman while on the other, it is the wife of a highly-placed government servant and mother of two. The partially deaf is considered more handicapped than someone who has
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