A bubbly Suma cannot contain her excitement as she meets us for an interaction. In her young, dark world, meeting people is the only way she can connect to them and make friends for life. Visually impaired, 23-year-old Suma is a gutsy youngster who has overcome poverty and extreme backwardness to join the SBI family as an assistant in the complaints redressal department.

Losing sight at the tender age of two, Suma endeavoured valiantly to pass the bank examination in the first attempt itself.

Hailing from a family of farmers based at Manikuppe in Kunigal, it was her mother Jayamma, an anganwadi worker, who took the initiative to get her blind daughter educated.

Suma, in fact, reels out the number of people who have supported and encouraged her in her academic and professional pursuits. This includes her teachers at Divine Light Blind School, the Ramana Maharishi School for the Blind and of course, the volunteers at Samarthana and Deloitte.

Recalling her school days, she says, "I was very naughty, often punished for my misdemeanors by my teachers, but since I was good at studies and achieved many laurels, I used to get away with it. Initially, it was my mother who provided the impetus to pursue my studies and put me in a free hostel. Following this, I received lot of help from volunteers at every step in my life."

She gives credit to volunteer groups like Samarthana and Deloitte for her success. "First it was Samarthana where volunteers like Shoba and Prabha helped me in my studies, especially maths and statistics. I was lucky they tutored me, otherwise it would have been impossible to understand the concepts and theorems. In fact, wherever I go, even common people on the street like bus drivers and conductors help me in reaching my office and carrying on with my day-to-day activities."

Suma's story clearly shows how much volunteering can help. Neha Belthur, a Deloitte consultant, has assisted this young lady in every way to achieve her goals. "It was at a chance meeting with her at Samarthana where  we were doing voice recording of books that Deloitte decided to contribute more towards enhancing Suma's life. Since she was weak in soft skills, we concentrated our efforts to improve this and also honed her English speaking skills. She was pretty good, we had to just polish a bit and her eagerness to learn and imbibe more and more definitely floored us," adds Neha.

Since starting this programme in 2010, Deloitte has helped close to 100 youngsters. Says a dedicated volunteer and analyst Vaijayanthi Srinivasan, "We help them in public speaking and with career guidance that involves lot of brainstorming sessions. We create resumes, conduct mock interviews, train them how to dress and face an interview. It is just not this, we also help them identify what their interest is  and the multiple professions they can choose from."

Depending on individual needs, monthly sessions are held and even summer camps are organised in the city. However, there is no segregation based on their disabilities as they have to face the world on their own, adds Neha, while Suma says without their help and encouragement, she would not have come so far. She makes a vow to help others in the same situation and signs off, "We are no less than others. And, I have never felt that I am blind."