Madan Lal might have been born without arms but he does extraordinary things with his feet and that’s how he leads his life on his own without relying on others. Neither did he feel upset nor did he think about his future because of his disability but all he did was to make use of his feet to good effect especially when it comes to doing day-to-day tasks.
Hailing from Haryana, the 45-year-old man said: “I was born without arms but that didn’t bother me during my childhood. My grandparents used to take care of me and help me with daily chores.” Being born without arms, growing up was never that easy for Madan. He wasn’t treated well towards his disability outside of his family circle.
He dreamt of becoming a tailor so that he can support himself in life. He faced many problems during childhood when he was denied a chance to get a proper admission in every school he went as the administrations simply rejected him because of disability.
“When I was young almost every school denied me admission because of my disability. The teachers refused to admit me into the school. It was the day, Madan decided to show the world that he has got everything in him. To survive on his own, he decided to take up tailoring as his profession at the age of 23. He found the going tough initially to get any training. “I was disappointed and thought that I will show them by achieving something.
“My family couldn’t afford to educate me, and I thought that the government wouldn’t help me either. So I’ll have to do something to survive in this life.” He said: “I went to many places and met many tailors. I requested them to train so that I can earn out of it. But all of them laughed at me.
“They said I could not make clothes without arms. It’s not possible. I can’t ever run a stitching machine. They sent me back to my village.” Lal was least bothered how others judged him of disability. He smiled and then travelled to Fatehabad in an attempt to search for a tailor who was interested to train him.
But at first sight, he couldn’t convince the tailor about his passion for tailoring due to his disability. He said: “I went to Fatehabad to learn stitching from a tailor. He initially refused to teach me. He said, ‘You don’t have any arms, how would you do stitching?
However, a year after taking up tailoring, Madan went on to become a professional tailor in Haryana. Woaah! a sigh of relief! “I said, ‘Just give me one chance’. He said okay and within 10 to 15 days my teacher started saying, ‘You will become successful.’ And I became very happy.”
In a year, determined Madan worked beyond the bounds of possibility to learn the art of tailoring and had opened a shop in his village. He said: “That day I forgot all the sufferings. It was the best day of my life. I saw people coming to my shop to greet me. The whole village was happy, as if they were part of my family.”
Madan said adding that his tailoring has changed his life. He says, “I have won the confidence of everyone.” Lal said: “People used to make fun of me. They never believed that I would learn tailoring using my feet.
“They would say, ‘He stitches with his feet, he will ruin our clothes.’” “Then I slowly started to win their confidence. And then a lot people started to come to me for stitching.”
Madan now does all the techniques of tailoring with his feet. He deftly cuts the cloth by holding his scissors with them and also uses the same to take measurements and run his sewing machine.
Lal said: “Whatever I have to do in my life, it’s just with my feet. All the stitching work I do with my feet. From cutting the cloth to measurement, I have to use my feet.”
Today, Madan has silenced the haters and naysayers by his talent. Yes, his determination and burning desire to touching the pinnacle of success is the greatest story you’ll ever read. He became a local hero and now everyone at his village comes to his shop for stitching their clothes. Talk about SUCCESS!
He said: “Some people said that I could ruin clothes because I stitch using my feet. Now everyone at our village comes to my shop for stitching their clothes. That’s the love and support I got from people.” “It’s not like the past anymore. I have won the confidence of everyone.”
(With inputs from Barcroft)
