Saji Thomas, a man who lives in a remote village Idukki in Kerala was often called ‘Pottan’ (which means ‘Idiot’) by the neighborhood kids. Thomas was born deaf and mute and children often treat him cruelly. The reason behind treating him badly is he would constantly try to work and repair on junk to gather and make something different and new. No one thought that this ‘Pottan’ would come a long way to discover something new.

The 45-year-old Thomas designed and built a twin-seat ultralight aircraft on his own. He made this out of used parts, discarded objects and recycled material. This made him into the India book of records. Thomas’s aircraft will soon be featured on Discovery Channel in a program called HRX Superheroes beginning on Monday. The host of the program is Hrithik Roshan and showcases nine people who overcame physical disability to achieve their dreams.

His ultralight aircraft, called Saji X Air-S, has already done several successful flights at a private flight training academy. Despite him being treated cruelly, he once saw a small aircraft spraying pesticides on nearby rubber plantations at the age of 15. Thomas’s passion then started him to concentrate on planes. He assembled the courage to go to pilots and talk to them and one of them gave their Mumbai address.

Thus, few months later Thomas moved to Mumbai. Impressed by his enthusiasm, the pilots gave him some manuals on aviation to read up and put him on odd jobs. Over the years, Thomas has had to undergo severe hardships to build the aircraft. To achieve this, Thomas sold his all five cents of land. “First he could only construct the frame of an aircraft and the second one could not fly as an engine from a motorbike was used in it,” his wife Mariya told.