“Wow” was the first thing that Deepa Malik exclaimed when she heard the concept that 6 students of Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology proposed, on her visit to their campus for the Inspiring Icon Awards ceremony. This later on became an abbreviation for the mission - ‘Will on Wheels’, an initiative to spread awareness about ability beyond disability for the differently-abled. Who knew then that this very mission would get Deepa Malik her 4th Limca record?
It all started after Deepa Malik's motivational lecture at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, where she encouraged students to think outside the box, and as future engineers and creators, develop technology that would help make life simpler for paraplegics. On her second visit on Independence Day, however, she was pleasantly surprised because some students already had a concept and plan ready for a project- they wanted to develop a hand- driven car, and they wanted Deepa to be their cause ambassador. That was the only sign that the driving enthusiast needed. “I gave them my Duster to work with because these young minds need to be fuelled otherwise the fire will die out,” Deepa remarks.
Apart from the go-ahead signal from Deepa, the students were ready with the entire plan. “Initially when we proposed the concept as part of our final year project, we thought she would take a regular trial for the modified car around the campus, but ma’am had bigger plans. She wanted to do a pan-India drive in it,” Bikash Jyoti Biswas, student member of the project, reminisces with the shock still evident on his face. After getting the nod from Deepa, it took about a month to fully conceptualise and modify the car. The first and the most important step, was to study the needs of paraplegics and the challenges they faced while driving under various driving conditions. For which they went to Delhi and spent some time with Deepa and some other paraplegic people. Apart from the obvious challenges of operating foot pedals and manoeuvring, tasks like half-clutch on a gradient too needed to be taken into account. “Designing these small details took time but once all that was thought out, assembling the car just took us 10 days,” Jyoti Biswas beams. Deepa’s mind was set on the mission. 8 days, 8 cities, 3278kms. A Chennai-Delhi, longest Pan-India, Will-on-Wheels awareness drive done in a Renault Duster by Deepa-Malik, a 43 year old, chest below paraplegic woman; initiated by students of Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology. They started from Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology,Chennai on the 22nd September and reached Delhi just before the clock struck 12 on the day Deepa was born, 30th September. Born out of sheer enthusiasm, backed by pure genius, and sprinkled with a host of memories, this journey was not going to be just a regular road-trip.
After the haggle on the highways, giving the wheel to her navigator for a short while in the city seemed out of the question because Deepa’s record was being recorded from toll-to-toll. “Every city that I entered, welcomed me at the toll with garlands, media support and so much warmth. With so many people believing in me, I couldn’t let them down by arriving in a car in the navigator’s seat rather than the driver’s,” Deepa clarifies. It was heart warming to see Deepa get support and backing from a lot of women, especially with her creating a niche for herself in a male-dominated field. Among the things that made this journey the most memorable for Deepa was meeting two of her friends and paraplegic swimmers – Raghavendra Amvekar and Rajesh Shinde in Belgaum. There she also met another swimmer, ‘Wonder Boy’ – a boy with no hands or legs, just a very big head supported by a very small torso. “Here I found my sources of energy that edged me to go on. I couldn’t have asked for better representation to support the cause that was so close to my heart,” she says with a satisfied expression on her face. For all those people who think Indians aren’t sensitive towards physically challenged people, here’s a drive, to change. The exact designing modification wasn’t revealed but these six, 4th year engineering students turned a base model, manual transmission Renault Duster into an auto-clutch, manual transmission, hand-operated Duster. The clutch has an actuator, which when triggered by a button, pulls the clutch in and out; enabling gear-shifting on-the-fly. In addition to that, the steering has a knob which allows a 360 degree rotation without having to hold the wheel with both hands. “The auto-transmission model was the top-end one, so this modification also brought in the affordability factor,” Deepa adds.
