As you enter the Govindraj household at Chembur, a melodious song "Sur na saje, kya gaun main, sur ke bina jeevan soona" greets you. The evergreen melodious song from the old classic "Basant Bahar". The mesmerizing voice belongs to none other than Manoj, Mr. Govindraj's son. He is oblivious to the surroundings as he continues to sing to the accompaniment of the harmonium. Manoj is 26 years old and is a visually impaired boy. Although visually handicapped, he has a string of achievements to his credit.
Recalls Mr. Govindraj about Manoj's earlier childhood days when in the year 1975, a baby boy was born to Mrs. Govindraj at Matunga. It was a normal delivery and the baby cried immediately. After 1 month, Mr. Govindraj found that the child would stare vacantly in space without any eye movements. This worried Mr. Govindraj. The child did not show any eye movements to his father's hand movements. He then consulted the best of the ophthalmologists in Mumbai regarding his son's vision. All the doctors opined that the child was visually impaired and nothing could be done. Mr. Govindraj broke down on hearing this. It was his wife Leena who consoled him.
At the tender age of 3 years, as other normal children attended nursery school, little Manoj was enrolled at the Mata Lachmi Nursery School for the visually impaired at Sion. Manoj stayed at the nursery campus itself along with other visually impaired toddlers for 2 years. It was indeed a heart rendering moment for the pants.
At the age of 5 years, Manoj was enrolled at the Victoria School for the visually impaired at Grant Road. This was also a residential school where Manoj studied upto the 5th std. The medium of instruction was Marathi. It was at this school that Manoj learnt to read and write
Braille. Manoj now feels that initially it was a 1'''' little difficult to learn Braille. His teachers used to scold him a lot in the beginning. This was a blessing in disguise as he has now mastered Braille. Writing in Braille is slower as compared to reading it.
After completing his 5th Std., the Govindraj's decided to get Manoj admitted to a regular school in Chembur. They had to face a lot of obstacles because he was from a Marathi medium school and visually impaired. After a lot of persuasion, Manoj was admitted to the Swami Vivekananda School at Chembur. Initially the teachers were finding it difficult to teach Manoj because they had never taught a visually impaired student. But Manoj's perseverance and his mother's help made him progress academically. Recalls Manoj of his early school days, "As all my class mates wrote their notes in regular note books, I wrote them in Braille. This was a bit difficult and time consuming. At home iny mother read out the lessons to me."
A little known fact to the readers about the facilities given to the visually impaired children by the Education Board is that they are exempted from drawing diagrams for Science and Mathematics. All calculations were done with a special wooden instrument called an Abacus. This is a special wooden calculator used by the visually impaired students. As things have progressed now, we have talking calculators and wrist watches for the visually impaired people.
Manoj had a hidden musical talent from early childhood. Recalls Manoj's father - "We had been to Shirdi when Manoj was just 4 years old. At the Saibaba temple all the devotees were singing a bhajan. As the bhajan ended, little Manoj started singing a few lines from the bhajan. This amazed everyone." At the age of 5 years Manoj first heard 'Chupke Chupke" a ghazal sung by Ghulamali and literally fell in love with the song. This was the beginning phase of Manoj's musical career.
Manoj started learning classical Hindustani vocal music from Mrs. Tembe at Chembur. He is still learning from her and is one of her prized disciple. At school Manoj entered every musical competition and has won several prizes for his Alma Mater. Does Manoj sing only classical Hindustani vocal songs? "No, I sing semi classical and film songs keeping in view the taste of the present generation" replies Manoj.
Manoj completed his 12th Std. with Arts subject as he had decided to pursue Music. He joined Mumbai University and completed BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) under the guidance of Pt. Jal Balaporia and did his MFA (Master of Fine Arts) under the guidance of Dr. Vidhyadhar Vyas and Pt. Ajay Pohankar. Manoj achieved a remarkable feat of standing 2nd in BFA and 1st in MFA among the normal students. Indeed a creditable achievement.
Manoj has a lpng list of credentials
1 Stood 1st class 1st in MFA from Mumbai University in May 1999.
2 Visharad in Hindustani classical music (vocal).
3 Visharad in Instrumental Music (Harmonium).
4 Recipient of scholarship from Centre of Cultural Resources and Training, Government of India, New Delhi in the field of Hindustani Classical Music from 1988 to 1995.
5 Represented Mumbai University in classical music at the regional youth festival held at Amravati.
6 Awarded first prize and citation at the All Maharashtra Music Competition conducted by Yuvak Biradari at Birla Kendra in February 1994.
7 Recipient of Sur Singar Samsad Jaidev award in 1995.
8 Grade "B" artiste in All India Radio in Hindi Light Music.
Having secured so many achievements, does Manoj have any other hobbies? Replies Manoj "I am very fond of playing chess and cards. In the chess board, the black squares are a little elevated and the chess coins have identification marks. I have a special set of cards which are marked in Braille. I play rummy Regarding his future plans, Manoj wants to do his Ph.D in Music from USA where facilities are available for research work and the guru shishya paramapara is still followed. In conclusion, Manoj is grateful to his mother for looking after him in his formative years of his life, his father for taking voluntary retirement from Reserve Bank of India and dedicating himself to give Manoj a firm footing in his career and Satya Sai Baba .and above all the Almighty God for achieving so much in life.
and other card games." All the above mentioned games are played with his college friends and Manoj proudly says that most of the times he is the winner.
Manoj has also learnt computers with a special software for the visually impaired. He underwent special training for 6 months going alone all the way to Churchgate to attend computer classes. He now handles computers like any normal person and surfs the net and sends emails to friends regularly. Manoj's favourite Hindi film singers are the late Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey. Manoj's all time favourite songs are "0 duniya ke rakhwale" from Baiju Bawra and "Jhanak Jhanak Baje payalia" .
At present, Manoj is working as a part-time music teacher at Shree Vallabhashram English Medium School, Sion, Mumbai. He is also giving tutions in vocal music to 8 students. Manoj has given several programmes in classical, sem-classical music and ghazals and bhajans.
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