Part of the digi age, too
Today, on World Sight Day, it is business as usual for Mumbai entrepreneur Murtaza Hamid (40), founder of web portal &lsquo;sastabhada.com&rsquo;. This portal enables people who wish to hire a truck for instance, to book the vehicle online.
<img title="Visually impaired students of the NAB Rehabilitation Centre in Mumbai, take advantage of a rare empty stretch of road at Mahalaxmi to cross. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2015/oct/Blind-students.jpg" alt="Visually impaired students of the NAB Rehabilitation Centre in Mumbai, take advantage of a rare empty stretch of road at Mahalaxmi to cross. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar" /> Visually impaired students of the NAB Rehabilitation Centre in Mumbai, take advantage of a rare empty stretch of road at Mahalaxmi to cross. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
The Sewri resident says, &ldquo;I suffer from retina pigmentosa due to which I can only see the shadow of a person. The portal started in April this year. The problems I faced running my family business lead me to launch this portal.&rdquo;
<img title="Kids at the Kamla Mehta School for the Blind at Dadar. Pic/Tushar Satam" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2015/oct/Kamla-Mehta-School.jpg" alt="Kids at the Kamla Mehta School for the Blind at Dadar. Pic/Tushar Satam" /> Kids at the Kamla Mehta School for the Blind at Dadar. Pic/Tushar Satam
People, says Hamid, cheated him when he was running the busines of transportation and entailed cash transactions. People would slip in less money or a Rs 50 note instead of a R100 between cash wads. Since it was difficult for Hamid to count, he would be easily swindled.
<img title="Visually impaired Murtaza Hamid, who started the website sastabhada.com at his office in Sewri. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2015/oct/Murtaza-Hamid.jpg" alt="Visually impaired Murtaza Hamid, who started the website sastabhada.com at his office in Sewri. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar" /> Visually impaired Murtaza Hamid, who started the website sastabhada.com at his office in Sewri. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
Now, that the business is online, transactions are undertaken digitally, money goes directly to his account and cash transactions are eliminated. Says Hamid, &ldquo;The portal works on an amalgamation of a traditional business model and new technology.&rdquo;
Adversity is part of this entrepreneur&rsquo;s life. Earlier, it was changing schools frequently while growing up. &ldquo;I could not see the blackboard and hence had to listen very carefully in class. I have changed at least five schools, as schools; they would throw me out frequently. I never learnt Braille as I felt it was de-motivating.&rdquo;
The Commerce graduate dug deep down for motivation and was steadfast with belief in himself. As India catapults into the digital age, spurred by the hi-tech push of the globetrotting PM Narendra Modi and with entrepreneurship as the buzzword, the visually impaired too are making their place in new India.

On World Sight Day today, a time when we must celebrate the inclusion of the visually impaired into the mainstream, here&rsquo;s looking at a member of the disabled community who has managed to breach discrimination, thanks to resolve and an unwavering belief in himself

World Sight Day: A salute to the 'vision' of visually impaired

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World Sight Day: A salute to the 'vision' of visually impaired

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