It is not often that one comes across a soft skills entrepreneur who is visually challenged. Ilango is certainly one of a kind. The man, who is an avid user of Facebook, tweets and claims to use his mobile phone for sending detailed smses and even excel sheets for presentations to his trainers on the job. Ask him how he manages and he replies, “There are various screen software reading applications. Like JAWs for example. It stands for Job Access With Speech.” Ilango is probably one of those people you simply can’t forget. Ask him about his profession, and he states matter-of-factly, “I prefer to use the term ‘life skills’. What’s so soft about them?,” he asks and laughs jovially. Then, he gets more serious, “I wanted to help our people (Tamil speaking) to improve their English without compromising on the quality of their mother tongue.” Three years ago, Ilango founded his company ACE Pvt Ltd at Indira Nagar, which today boasts a reputed clientele of corporates and colleges city-wide. The sessions also range from People Management to Career Counselling to Building better finances and a host of other options. Since Ilango cannot be everywhere at once, he has 300 trainers to spread knowledge for him.So, it does come as a surprise when he says, “I studied in a Tamil medium school all my life.” His story is interesting. It all started when he heard a BBC announcer on the radio. Ilango shares,“The words and intonation sounded very different from the little English spoken at the schools that I attended.” So he would listen and practise and attend one elocution competition after the next. “Of course, my roots were getting stronger as well because these competitions were both in Tamil and English,” he explains. However, with his growing popularity, there also seemed to be a growing disdain from fellow classmates who warned him that his English proficiency was not to be ‘paraded around’. “Of course, I just nodded my head and continued to keep doing the opposite,” he smiles, through his dark glasses.One day, on account of his talking in English, an 18-year-old Ilango was rounded up by a group of bullies. ‘It must be terrible being blind’, they taunted. ‘You don’t know what your mother looks like. You can't even see your own face. Why don't you consider self-immolation and put an end to your suffering?’ Ilango replied, “I have considered it, but I don't think I ever will again, because if people like you deserve to live, why can't I?” There were bursts of applause that day, and no doubt, sight was not required to feel their praise. It is probably this that has led to Ilango’s biggest passion being addressing youngsters in various arenas. He says, “I think film songs are the most powerful medium to communicate with people at this point and inspire,” he smiles. “So I always end a session by singing a song.” This could be anything from Unnal Mudiyum Thambi... to Nalam Vaazha Ennalum... By the way, did we mention that he is an ardent Illayaraja fan? “I trained in Carnatic music for 10 years and can sing more than 2,000 songs from memory,” he says proudly. And if this weren’t enough, is probably the only visually challenged voice over artiste in the city. In fact, earlier this year, he was presented the reputed Siva Foundation Award for best contribution to music and shared the stage with SP Balasubrahmanyam.
Comments
0 comment