Dear friends,
The very presence of the handicapped “WOOD ART” entrepreneur LG Jolly Joseph made the Accessibility Meetup a grand success.
I reached Kochi on Saturday itself for the Sunday Meet-up. The next day morning, I reached Marine Drive by 9:50 am and very soon, dear co-host @Rahul001 also reached. Shortly, the next co-host Chakochan, along with LG @Gaffar1 arrived. Within a few minutes, our Senior LG Varghese ( @Sariga ) reached along with a specially-abled LG @JollyTakshan in his car. Our @AswanthSK joined us a bit later.
I sincerely thank the high-level support and active cooperation by LG Varghese, Rahul & Chackochan.
Photo #2, Caption: The Marine Drive Boat Jetty for Tourist Boats.
Photo #3, Caption: LG @JollyTakshan on his wheelchair in Marine Drive, just before the meet-up.
We all got introduced together as we were meeting for the first time. Also, we briefly chatted about 
Accessibility with Jolly who came in his wheelchair; and, then proceeded to Fort Kochi.
We wanted to experience the Kochi Water Metro - hence, we took the ticket (Rs.40/person) and followed the queue - we waited for almost 20 minutes and we boarded the Metro Boat. LG Jolly had a special privilege for entry & got priority to board very first.
Photo #4, Caption: A wall post inside the High Court Water Metro Station Photo #5, Caption: Tourists exiting from the Metro Boat at Fort Kochi.
Travelling from High Court Station to Fort Kochi was a very new & exciting experience for most of us. In the same way, we waited & got out of the boat at the last with LG Jolly seated in the wheelchair.
Photo #6, Caption: Chinese Fist-Net at Fort Kochi
Photo #7, Caption: One of the Fish Markets in Fort Kochi. (Notice the 
- the ‘Tactile guide’)
Photo #8, Caption: Some of the collections in the Bastion Bungalow, Fort Kochi - an important tourist place.
We explored different locations and reached the Anand Bhavan Restaurant by 1:45, where we had our lunch.
Photo #9, Caption: Fort Manor Road - a beautiful location.
Accessibility Discussions:
About Jolly Takshan: He narrated his sad story from a normal married person to a handicapped person with total paralysis down from his chest, due to the removal of a tumour in his backbone. Today, he is a dream model to many handicapped persons, running his own “Wood Art” business - (Here) which also employs disabled people. (Shall have a detailed post, separately)
About different Accessibilities:
He threw light on different challenges a handicapped person goes through; though the sentences were hurting, but gave a lot of information - I was very much moved by this session.
After lunch, we continued our exploration covering a few other destinations and reached the Fort Kochi Water Metro Station. We reached back to Marine Drive by 4:30 and got ready for the Virtual Meetup at 5 pm.
Photo #10, Caption: A photo collage of attendees of the meet-up, carefully crafted by Senior LG @Shrut19 .
Photo Walk:
Our PhotoWalk covered Marine Drive, 2 Metro Stations, Ticket counters, a Chinese Fishing Net, a Fish Market, the Bastion Bungalow, a few churches, 1 Basilica, Ananta Bhavan, Fort Manor Road, a Few local shops, etc.
I along with @chackochann gave a live demonstration of different islands, High Court Station, Marine Drive Walkway, etc., during a very successful Virtual Meetup,
We concluded our meet-up after the Virtual Meet-up, by about 6 pm.
Hope, you got an idea about the meet-up.
This meet-up was successful due to the full support from @StephenAbraham .
My special thanks to all Physical Participants and Virtual Participants, including my motivators @TusharSuradkar , @AjitThite @Shrut19 @RosyKohli and many more
