Visually impaired Sakaldeep teaches village students in Gopalganj

Alok Mishra

Gopalganj: Sakaldeep, 40, a native of village Konhawa under Sadar block of Gopalganj district, and son of late Ramashish Mistry who worked with Seema Suraksha Sadak Sangathan, imparts education to children though he had lost his vision in 1991. Teeja Devi, Sakaldeep mother’s, wanted her  son to become an IAS officer after completing his studies. But fate had something else written for him. Sakaldeep was to appear at matriculation examination in 1992. However, in 1991, he suffered from an acute headache and was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Delhi, where the attending doctors diagnosed that he was suffering from brain tumour.

Sakaldeep lost his vision site during an operation and despite best efforts, the doctors could not restore his vision.   This was a setback for Sakaldeep, who suffered another big blow when his father died on May 2, 1997. His entire family was shattered. Sakaldeep’s family members pressurized him to marry and his marriage was solemnized in 1999.

However, his wife, a native of village Khaira under Mairwan police station in Siwan district, deserted Sakaldeep to marry another man. This proved to be another blow for Sakaldeep, who stood completely shattered. But this did not deter him and he decided to impart education to students of the village so that they could achieve something in their lives. His aim is to bring a change in society’s attitude by educating the children.

Sakaldeep’s morning starts with worship of Lord Shiva and Maa Bhagvati daily. During Navratri, he created Maa Stuti and it was published in form of a calendar by one of his students and the writing is of very high quality. Sakaldeep said that he could write such a thing as he has the blessings of Maa Bhagwati. Sakaldeep imparts education to students from Class one to Class nine. A large number of students assemble at his house from 5 am to 8 am and from 4 pm to 10 pm daily.

Sakaldeep teaches his students subjects including Maths, English, Hindi and Geography. He also runs a free coaching institute. During recess, Sakaldeep writes poetry, which is of high quality. He has till date composed 120 poems, which are going to be published as a publishing house of Varanasi has contacted him. Sakaldeep said that he never feels sorry for loss of his eye sight. “What hurts me most is that I could not clear my matriculation examination,” he said. Sakaldeep has carved out his own place in the society. Despite being blind, he gets respect from every section of the society in the district as several of his students have excelled in different fields.