Mr S Arunagiri & Mr Scott Nicholas

What would be the first thing on your mind when you see a man in a wheelchair, with hands that are unusually thin and 2 deep scars in the middle of his throat? An invalid, a social outcast, or just another person trapped in a body with limited functions? Well if you know Mr. Maran a/l Etuman of KTM Rumah Panjang, Petaling Jaya, you might change your opinion.

Referring back to that wise old phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” Maran is exactly a real life example of this saying. 32 years old Maran has been in a wheelchair since his 21st birthday. A freak accident put him in the state that he is in now. Maran stopped schooling at the age of 15, while studying in Form 3. Money was the reason that made him uninterested in school. Not the lack of money, as in most cases of Indian boys, but the excess of it. At that age, Maran was earning a steady income of RM 2000. An amount most graduates struggle to make after toiling in the university for 3 or more years.

Born with natural business acumen, Maran had started his own catering business even before leaving school. Supplying “iddiappam”, “vadai”, “keseri” and other famous Indian cakes and cuisines to special functions with the help of some of his brothers and friends in his neighbourhood, Maran became the youngest if not most successful businessman in his neighbourhood.

As things were sailing smoothly, disaster struck young Maran. As he was waiting by the traffic light, the tail part of a trailer struck him and what seemed like a minor accident, changed Maran’s life forever. 3 years of hospitalisation and 2 years totally spent in the confines of his room, affected Maran to such an extent that he lost all hope in living.

At that time, encouragement from Mr. Gopal, the local temple committee leader who asked him to be involved in the temple activities and motivation from Dr. Denison Jayasooria, who visited Maran after the Taman Medan incident, uplifted Maran.

The downcast Maran was seen as a potential individual by YSS. In his own words, Maran tells us, what was the focal point in his transformation. “When Dr. Denison and YSS entrusted me with some responsibilities that would normally be given to healthy and mobile people, that single deed boosted my confidence. That act of trust that YSS invested in me made me feel like a person. A whole, complete person, who was capable of doing things,” Being motivated in such ways was the driving force for him to win the “YSS Volunteer of the Year in 2002.”

Besides YSS, Maran also contributes socially to the community with the assistance of ATMAH Education Programmes. Maran is the key resources person of YSS’ Computer Centre in KTM Rumah Panjang, PJ. He takes the time and trouble to go from house to house, meeting the parents and children and enlists them into our computer centres and the education programmes.

Maran is a man of visions and ideas. His disability has not incapacitated him in any way. Maran plans to set up a central place to run more social development programmes on his own. Business wise he is going to expand his current printing business to a large printing plant where he can employ more people who share the same fate like him.

Maran’s only disappointment is the fact that most of the different organizations operating in his neighbourhood have problem working together. They all prefer doing things on their own. Maran believes that if the resources and availability of the organizations were combined, people would greatly benefit from it.

Talking to Maran, I was quite challenged to recollect the things that I have done compared to him and moved to do more for the betterment of the community in my own capacity as an IT Officer. However, Maran is one in a million. A person who has overcome struggles that would normally break a person. Maran deserved the recognition that he received last year, and at the rate things are going we feel he will get that award again this year.

(Submitted on 31th March 2003)