Lost his arms at 18, not his will: Uttarakhand labourer learns to write with his toes, becomes office manager in Kota

Kota: From grazing cattle in Uttarakhand to managing an NGO office in Rajasthan, 58-year-old Devkinandan Sharma has come a long way, despite losing both his arms at the age of 18.

At Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti’s office in Kota, Sharma does paperwork and maintains records digitally, using only his toes.

“Pinning papers is a difficult task for me as it takes too much effort and time,” he says.

Unlike traditional desk setups, Sharma innovatively places a wooden board at his feet, transforming it into his workspace where he manages all the paperwork. Alongside these duties, he also works on a computer effortlessly maneuvering the mouse and keyboard with his toes on the same wooden board.

Sharma says he was a bright student in school and always dreamt of having a job where he handled paperwork.

“I was very sharp in Maths and English and it was my dream to get a job where I could sign and write papers in the office. This dream shattered in my 8th class when one day in 1981, I got a high power electric shock while working as a contractual wage labourer and I lost both my arms,” Sharma, who was born and brought up in Nainital’s Shilalekh village, recounts.

Upon returning home from the hospital, Sharma says he was termed “useless” by the villagers, who then gave him the task of grazing cattle in the forest. He used that time to practise writing by securing a tree twig between his toe thumb and middle toe.

After six months of regular practice, one day he drew a lotus flower on the ground and spelled it in Hindi, "kamal". This gave him the confidence to transition to practising on paper with a pen held between his toes. It took him eight months of relentless effort to finally master this art of writing on a paper with his toes.

“I wrote my first letter with a pen held between my toes to my brother who was then posted in Almora, Uttarakhand. Surprised by this, he encouraged me to resume studies,” Sharma says.

He took his brother's advice and completed his senior secondary education in 1986.

The same year, a camp for physically challenged people was organised in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand, where Sharma met social workers Prassana and her husband M C Bhandari, founders of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti in Kota. The couple was extremely impressed with Sharma’s ability to write with his toes and asked him to accompany them here.

Sharma was initially offered the job of a storekeeper in the NGO here and in 2001, he was promoted to the post of manager.

He says a lot of people in the Ranikhet camp were impressed with his skill of writing with his toes and offered him money but he refused, which impressed the Bhandari couple, whom he would call "mummy and papa" until their death.

Sharma lives in Kota with his wife, an ASHA worker, and son, who is a physiotherapist. His daughter is married and is a homemaker.