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Making their lives SPECIAL
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Bhargav Sundaram and Priya custom-make wheelchairs and tricycles for the differently-abled
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Pic. by S. Thanthoni
Their smiles say it all: Bhargav Sundaram and Priya with some of those benefited by them— Pic. by S. Thanthoni
WHAT WOULD you say about the drive of a person from the Enfield family, who likes to see the physically challenged become more mobile and independent? Well, service minded.
Bhargav Sundaram, grandson of K.R. Sundaram Iyer, of Callidai Motor Works manufactures manual and powered wheelchairs and tricycles for the differently-abled. "But I am still associated with automobiles," he says.
Tackling a problem
Bhargav and wife Priya began with powered cycles, more popular abroad. The couple were soon drawn to this idea that addresses the problem of the physically challenged. Although the automobile lineage came in handy, the challenge was to tackle the ergonomics as well as the electrical and electronic aspects of tricycles and wheelchairs, as Bhargav wasn't ready for the run-of-the-mill assembled pieces available in the market. Thus was launched the project.
Their sensitivity to the cause was evident in their decision to appoint only the differently-abled. "When an idea is researched, it is carried out diligently, as my employees are able to understand the predicament of the user better," says Bhargav. Today, 23 enthusiastic employees (including three girls) work in his Thoraipakkam office as shop-floor assistants, welders, fitters, sheet metal workers, and marketing, electrical and electronic personnel. What's more, some of them even travel to other cities for vehicle demonstrations and deliveries.
Custom-made equipment
Bhargav provides custom-made equipment to suit individual needs, after studying the exact nature of the disability.
"One's difficulty of movement is specific to one's physical condition and requirement. So the need for custom-made mobility-equipment was thought to be ideal. We need to be more perceptive to serve a cause," he says. "Take for example the doorways, stairs, lifts or toilets where wheelchairs have to be manoeuvred. The wheels, size of chairs, leg-rest, arm-movement, joy-stick movement... everything needs to be perfect to negotiate space. This is where specifics play a major role in designing, and that is what we concentrate on."
Bhargav goes on to explain how the mother of a 27-year-old cerebral palsy victim once met him to get a low wheeled-trolley to physically place her son on it and wheel him around. It was increasingly tiring for her to drag him on a bedspread, as he was bulky. "She did heave a sigh of relief when we made a trolley barely one inch high from the ground," he says. "There is no need to carry out architectural changes in your house for a differently-abled family member to move around, we can suitably design the wheels of mobility-equipment," he adds.
Polio, amputation, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries (paraplegics and quadriplegics), cerebral palsy and old age... every kind of problem is addressed by the husband-wife team. Of course, prices vary according to product specification.
Some of the products manufactured by Callidai Motor Works (ph: 24991609, 98840-49007) include wheelchairs with a portable commode, which doubles as a normal chair, bed wheelchairs that can also be used as a bed, travel wheelchairs which can be bundled in a suitcase, special chairs for side, backward and forward movement, and three-wheeler scooters with wheelchair-attached backs, along with platforms to get on to the vehicle.
RANJANI GOVIND
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