A 20-year-old disabled boy, Nilesh Shikre in Susegado (leisurely-paced) Goa starts everyday at 5.30 p.m to deliver newspapers from his bicycle to Goan households, in order to make a living.
Every morning, his way begins from his home in Panzorconi to Cuncolim bazaar -a distance of one and a half kilometers , where he collects the newspapers from the Kunde Newspaper agent, despite rain or cold and despite his deformity.
Nilesh has lost part of his left arm and his right arm stopped developing when he was electrocuted after meddling with the high-tension electricity wires that ran overhead of the two-room palm-leaf hut his family lived in. The doctors had to amputate his left forearm. It was happening when he was 11 years old.
The acceident determined him to start the challenge of his life, as he was unable to perform most of the jobs.
"I had no choice. I had to survive. I could not depend on others for long. Sometimes the adjustments and innovations I have made to use just a hand came about out of necessity. A few elders reminded me that if I do not make the necessary changes to cope up with my disabilities now then I will have to regret it at a latter stage. And at this time the danger bells rang in me, to act fast before it is too late to regret," he said.
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