Setting Sights High

This assistant district collector did not let her visual impairment keep her from achieving her dreams.

 

- Anjuly Mathai

Please ask me only interesting questions,” said the new assistant district collector of Ernakulam, Pranjal Patil. “Otherwise I’ll get so bored.” I mentally scratched off all my questions about success, motivation and challenges. I had to think more creatively, but under the sudden pressure to perform, I crumbled. All I could come up with was: “Why IAS?” She might have been bored already, but she answered sportingly.

“I believe you can contribute [to society] in whatever field you choose,” she said. “But I wanted to do something where I could deal with people directly. I wanted to be in a profession where you can see the direct result of your actions.”

Being visually-impaired, Patil might have preferred a profession where she does not have to face the forced sympathy of people, or their awkwardness around disabled people. But instead of running away from the storm, she walked right into it. The thing about her is that there is no trace of self-pity. Not once did she refer to her disability as setting her back in any way, although it must have in many ways. However, when I brought it up, she addressed the issue without any hesitation, and did not shrink from the questions.