I am happy that I can help people to get a better vision. I design, fit and dispense corrective lenses. I have an elder brother who is an optometrist and my younger brother is a seminarian. My father is my inspiration and motivation. Even as a child I used to watch my optician father work in his small factory to manufacture lenses. I always wanted to be one, like him.
I was a mediocre student in school. I completed 10th Standard with great difficulty and decided to put a full stop to my academics and joined my father. Life was not cut out easy with him either. May be he thought I should not be inheriting the family business but work hard to earn my way in. My father was a hard task master. The love for work forced me to learn things independently. I used to bunk school often but at work, I spent day and night here to learn the nuances of my job. I hardly took leave from work. In my 24 years of working, I was away from work for just 37 days. I lost my father 15 years ago.
I had an impressive offer in Muscat but my parents did not allow me to go. They got me married and I stayed on here. I earn Rs.700 a day. Last year we completed 50 years in the business. Today, apart from our main shop on West Masi Street, we have two more branches at Thembavani and near Government Meenakshi College.
My son Victor Dominic Manickam is studying in eighth standard and I want to make him an ophthalmologist.
(A fortnightly column on men and women who make Madurai what it is)
