Effervescent imp – with formidable IQ and EQ

March 30, 2024

3 minutes

Vinayana Khurana was born in March 1994, and when her developmental milestones were delayed, her parents bridged the traumatic phase with bravery and acceptance. Physiotherapy sessions were complemented with long conversations and marathon reading sessions. Her bubbling curiosity, her joy of discovery, was endless. When her brother Vishesh was born 5 years later, the loving family bonds grew, and the sibling relationship continued to develop with affection and mutual support.

As a child, when the family played video games which Vinayana could not join, her father Vijay got a game customised with controls she could use. She used it constantly, knowing that the practice would build strength in her fingers. In 2004, the family got their first computer. Unable to use the keyboard with her fingers, in frustration, she started using her nose. Bending repeatedly to touch her nose to press the keys caused backache, but she persisted. The first time she wrote a full line – months later – was a moment of ecstasy. Her typing competence grew, and as technology evolved, Vinayana now uses her photo to write poems, stories, blogs, and books.

One time, however, she did revert to typing with her nose. She had taken on a new job as a content writer, and her manager suggested that she use a laptop to write instead of her phone. Without a word, Vinayana began doing so. It was only after quite a while, when he noticed her clicking the laptop keys with her nose, bending her neck over and over to do so, that he understood and apologized.

This complete immersion into achieving the best possible results, regardless of physical inconvenience to herself, is one of Vinaya’s most remarkable characteristics. Her teachers and bosses also express admiration for her and her family’s determination that she be never given any concession for her handicap.

Vinayana completed BA in 2016 and is now writing her MPhil dissertation. Her professors and her guide are full of praise for her resilience and positive attitude. More than that, they feel awed by her intellectual abilities, her skill with words, her speed of execution, and her communication and presentation skills.

Neerja, Vinayana’s mother, hotly denies any credit. But perhaps it was indeed the constant inputs, encouragement, and freedom to choose her path that gave Vinayana the confidence and blissful self-acceptance to prop herself against a wall to join the dancing. Perhaps it was indeed the early grounding that made her live life so positively that when anyone made fun of her, she laughed happily too, creating the understanding, even among those who have never dealt with a disabled person, how to do so in a relaxed and accepting way.

Vinayana Khuranan is the recipient of the 22nd Cavinkare Ability Mastery Award 2024. Check out her story here.