THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Akhilesh, who is autistic, calls his younger sister Saidurga 'Thankam'. Although Saidurga is 6 years younger than 24-year-old Akhilesh, she is more like a mother to him. Their mother Shilpa is from Tamil Nadu. Hence, the children call each other 'Annan' (elder brother) and 'Thankachi' (younger sister). As Akhilesh finds it difficult to pronounce 'Thankchi', he calls his sister 'Thankam'.

Saidurga started to take care of her brother seven years ago when their mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was studying in Class 8 then. She won't get sad even if Akhilesh becomes angry at her. Although Akhilesh was talented in drawing, he was reluctant to go to drawing class. Following this, Saidurga started accompanying him to the class. She gave her food and medicines. She also accompanied him to the keyboard class.

Although Shilpa has recovered from the disease, it is Saidurga who is still taking care of Akhilesh. Saidurga, who was a student of Carmel School, scored A plus in all subjects with 99 percent marks in computer science this time. She desires to become an ISRO scientist. She is now preparing for JEE online. The family lives in Jagathy in Thiruvananthapuram. Father Ramanathan is a secretariat official.

Akhilesh was two and a half years old when he was diagnosed with autism. He studied at Jagathy High School till Class 10. He passed in Commerce from Palkulangara NSS HSS. He is good at learning languages. He learned Tamil, Telugu, English and Malayalam by watching TV and YouTube. He completed BA in Performing Arts from University College. Shilpa used to drop him at college every morning. He is also studying at Magic Planet in Kazhakootam.