The 24-year-old looks after his family with the help of his job at a massage centre, part of a global chain, that has opened at the domestic terminal of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here. Nothing special about it, except that Dinesh is visually impaired.

Dinesh is not alone. Jyoti Thakur, a Virar resident, commutes daily to and from the airport in order to give busy airline travellers, mostly harried businessmen, foot massages - to offer them some relaxation, or at least help them kill time in case of flight delays. Jyoti is partially blind.

"It's a conscious decision on behalf of My Foot Reflexology to hire these special people and our customers are also quite satisfied with their services," says Bhavna Vohra, CEO of the chain in India.

"I feel very nice working here and moreover I feel more accepted here compared to my previous workplace," said Dinesh who has also been given adequate training to match the chain's service standards. Dinesh and the likes have been imparted training by the chain's Singapore-based staff and they belong to the National Association of the Blind (NAB).

"I don't feel that I cannot see," said Jyoti. "Every sort of people come here and what encourages me most are feedbacks from clients on my service," she adds further. Though Jyoti's family consists of an earning father and a brother, she feels empowered by the thought of contributing to her family's overall income.

The massages offered at the terminal outlet are also kept short and deliberately owing to short durations of time that fliers spend at the airport. And if they do manage to have enough time at hand or the flights gets delayed indefinitely, they can splurge on the long therapies offered by the centre.

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