Express News Service

KOZHIKODE: It was for want of adequate sound technology that Charlie Chaplin kept his tongue tied in his early movies. But it made things easy and comfortable for P Sunil, a 28-year-old hearing impaired hailing from Neeleswaram in Kasargod. Sunil was the centre of attraction during the 28th annual conference of All-Kerala Association of the Deaf (AKAD), for his fabulous imitation of the English comedian and film maker.

“I saw Chaplin movies in TV, which prompted me to conduct caricature shows,” says Sunil with the help of an interpreter of sign language. He had begun his shows in 2005 and so far has staged 50 shows across the country. The most valuable compliment he received was from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 during the national-level Deaf and Dumb Arts Festival held in New Delhi, he recalls. He also had words of praise from former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Sunil won many prizes at the state and national-level cultural festivals conducted for the hearing impaired in his school days. More accolades came his way when he represented the state at the Silent Games of the Deaf held in Delhi.

With a pass in SSLC from Cherkala Marthoma School for Deaf, he did a two-year diploma course in photography with the help of All-India Federation of the Deaf. Besides his shows on Chaplin, Sunil also excels in mimicking Malayalam and Tamil film artistes.

The occasion also had a rare guest from France, Aurelie Faradji, a hearing impaired and a student of Psychology. “My visit is a part of my study tour on ‘life and culture of deaf’ and I have selected India,” says Aurelie, who came alone here.

Born to deaf parents, she has already visited cities including Delhi, Varanasi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kanyakumari and Kochi. She will return to France after visiting Mumbai and some parts of Gujarat.

“The treatment of the hearing impaired is not that sound here in India. There is no empathy, but only sympathy and people sometimes laugh at these unfortunate ones,” says Aurelie. The two-day get-together of hearing impaired from across the state was organised as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the International World Deaf Day. Mayor M Bhaskaran launched the AKAD website www.keraladeaf.org.

Nearly 400 delegates from across the country took part in the programme.

Courtesy by Kerala News.