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“In school I developed a passion for Sanskrit, which I learnt entirely through braille”

Akshay Surana (34) from Jodhpur was born with a faint trace of vision that disappeared within the first few months of his life. Doctors discovered he had retinoblastoma, a tumour affecting the eye and brain. His parents, Dileep and Sharmila, travelled to Ahmedabad to consult a reputed specialist, Dr Nagpal. The tumour had already taken hold of Akshay’s left eye, and although doctors tried they could not restore vision in the right eye. Eventually, the right eyeball had to be removed to prevent further spread of the disease. Akshay was only a few months old when he developed 100 per cent blindness.
 
From an early age, Akshay’s parents were determined that his visual impairment would not limit his education or independence. When he turned three he was admitted to Netraheen Vikas Sansthan, a school dedicated to children with visual disabilities. The environment was inclusive but learning was far from easy. Like many visually impaired students, Akshay initially struggled with braille – reading, writing, and especially mathematics where it required patience and practice to use the Tailor Frame to understand numbers and equations.
 
Sharmila became his first teacher; she learned alongside him and taught him from nursery through primary classes. Akshay admits that until Class 4 or 5 he was not deeply interested in academics and studied mainly when exams approached. However, as he matured, he began to understand the importance of education; from Class 9 onward, he consistently stood first in his class.
 
In 2007, Akshay scored 80 per cent in his Class 10 examinations, the top scorer among visually impaired students in the Rajasthan Board. This earned him a certificate of recognition from the District Magistrate. Lack of accessibility limited his choices of subjects for Class 12; he studied Political Science, Music, and Sanskrit Literature. In Class 9, a new teacher, Uma Ram Paliwal, had joined the school. His teaching style and ability to simplify Sanskrit grammar deeply inspired Akshay, instilling a lifelong love for the language. Sanskrit, studied entirely through Braille, became his academic anchor.
 
In 2009, Akshay passed Class 12 with 78 per cent, earning him another certificate from a charitable organisation in Jaipur. He pursued a BA in Sanskrit, Political Science, and Public Administration – a subject he picked because of his keen interest in debates on current affairs and international relations. He says he benefitted from the guidance of and discussions with (the late) Kusumlatha Bhandari (the professor whose story we featured in EGS). In 2013, he appeared for the Rajasthan Administrative Services examination and qualified for the preliminary stage. Unfortunately, repeated paper leak rumours led to cancellations. Also in 2013, he completed his B.Ed.
 
Akshay cleared the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) and qualified for the role of Assistant Professor. However, due to his visual impairment, he was offered only subordinate positions, a systemic limitation that would later define a major chapter of his life.
 
In 2014, the Rajasthan Public Service Commission released an advertisement for 67 assistant professor posts in Sanskrit, with the examination conducted in 2016. None of these posts were reserved for visually impaired candidates. Akshay wrote multiple letters to the commission and relevant departments, seeking redressal. When these efforts failed, he approached the Rajasthan High Court in 2015.
 
Even as the court case dragged on, Akshay was furthering his prospects. In 2015 he completed his M.A. in Sanskrit with flying colours, earning a gold medal presented by then Governor Kalyan Singh in 2016. He also cleared the Rajasthan School Lecturer examination, and between 2017 and 2025, he taught at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sardarpura, Jodhpur.
 
The legal battle lasted eight years. A single bench initially ruled in favour of the government and the commission. Akshay challenged the verdict before a double bench, where the then Chief Justice examined documents detailing Sanskrit vacancies from 2001 to 2024. On 22 March 2024, the court ruled in Akshay’s favour, acknowledging the validity of his objections. Even after the verdict, implementation was delayed, forcing Akshay to file a contempt of court case. Finally, in 2025, he was appointed to the post he had long fought for. Today, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Sanskrit at a government college in Osian village, about 65 kilometres from Jodhpur.
 
Akshay has a younger brother Dheeraj (30) who works alongside their father in the family’s real estate brokerage business. Akshay has always followed cricket passionately, listening to commentary and closely tracking the career of his favourite player, Virat Kohli. He is trained in classical music, has completed a diploma considered equivalent to graduation, and dreams of doing something professionally in the field of music. He says, “Music is my constant companion, my emotional backbone.”