Of Hindu, Kalam and Projects

This article came in The Hindu today. In the paragraph indicating the low-cost technology developed in IIT Madras, one of the two projects shown was mine! :)

CHENNAI: In the eyes of APJ Abdul Kalam, the scientist, there was a Stephen Hawking lurking in every corner of Vidya Sagar, wielding technology from a wheelchair. “This is a very hi-tech establishment,” he remarked of Vidya Sagar, which works for children with cerebral palsy. “What Stephen Hawking is doing, you are trying to do everyday.”

Stepping into the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Centre in Vidya Sagar, which works on various devices used by students who are “non verbal,” Mr. Kalam spent more than his scheduled half-an-hour, finding out how technology could be harnessed to help children with poor motor and auditory skills to learn and communicate.

Rajul Padmanabhan, director, Vidya Sagar, told Mr. Kalam about a low-cost technology, developed in association with IIT-Madras, that opens up the world for a child with multiple disabilities.

Poonam Natarajan, founder of Vidya Sagar and chairperson of the National Trust, and Usha Ramakrishnan, chairperson, Vidya Sagar, informed Mr. Kalam of the various initiatives of the institution.

Mr. Kalam promised to come back to Vidya Sagar, along with a student conducting research on mental retardation, and spend half a day with the students, teachers and mothers.

He took a couple of questions from 12th standard students Anjana and Abhishek.

Mr. Kalam congratulated “his friend” Siddharth, a former student of Vidya Sagar currently employed in a private bank, for his achievements.