Usha Thiruvengadam lives in Mylapore and teaches Carnatic music and violin to the children in and around her locality.
She studied violin at the music college and achieved the grade, ‘Isai Kalaimani’. She became a violin lecturer in the same college and taught students for eight years (1998-2006).
Usha did all this despite being visually challenged later in her teen years.
She says she had excellent vision till she reached her tenth grade; then her retina pigmentation count (RPG) decreased slowly causing blindness at her age of 16, when she was studying her tenth grade.
Usha’s says the RPG count deficiency has affected her family including two sisters and a brother went blind during their middle age. Says Usha, “I could not even attempt the public exams. Though I lost my eyesight, I did not lose hope and dedicated myself to the art of music.”
Now, she is very comfortable with the environment and has learnt to lead a life like anyone else. She can cook on her own, boil milk, and can even cut vegetables.
She is married to Thiruvengadam and they have two sons T. Karthik (who is a percussionist, playing the mridangam) and T. Kishore (who is a violin artiste).
– Reported by S. S. Shri Lakshmi
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