Institutions

Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre

The 58 Rashtriya Rifles had received a tip-off about the presence of militants on a hilltop. Ajit Kumar Shukla, heading a quick-reaction team, ws stealthily advancing in the dark when a burst of fire flung him in the air. Shukla and his men returned the fire and it went on that way for what seemed like hours. It was only after the encounter ended and Shukla sank back that he felt like he was dripping wet. It was his blood and he had been hit. Shukla’s company commander got him airlifted to Udhampur. But that encounter changed his life forever. The young man from Ara district in Bihar who always dreamt big had been rendered a paraplegic - strapped to his wheelchair forever.

Today, he is one of the most aggressive basketball players at the Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) in Mohali on the outskirts of Chandigarh. “You should see him jostle for the ball. The wheelchair doesn't come in the way,” says M.K. Saha, the PRC's basketball coach who has played in several international meets at Malaysia and Bangkok.

It's early morning and the newly built physiotherapy centre at PRC, called the Express Block- a joint venture of the Indian Express and the Army - is humming with activity. The dashing Naik Prem Singh, a paratrooper who became tetraplegic when his parachute didn't open as he was skydiving, is working hard on his arm muscles.

“Earlier, our equipment was scattered across several small rooms which made it impossible for the physiotherapist to supervise more than one patient at one go. With this new physiotheraphy centre, she can handle many,” explains PRC director Col. J. S. Spehia (retd).

It's thanks to physiotherapist Sukhwinder Kaur that the inmates have learnt to be on their own. Mahender Singh, who couldn't move a finger when he came here after an accident in the pool while training at Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre at Lansdowne in 2003, now shaves and eats on his own. “It’s good and airy, we will be able to exercise much longer,” he says of the physio-centre.

Besides a big hall with a wide array of equipment, the well-lit block, which looks out into vistas of green, has two rooms for electro-and hydro-therapy. “It's here and on the playgrounds that we learn to live life all over again,” says Naik Balbir Singh of 14 Garhwal, who got here after being grievously injured in a landmine blast near Anantnag in 2000. Singh, who says he had lost the will to live, is now looking forward to educating his two sons.

Spread over 10 acres, the centre which dates back to 1978, also provides accommodation to families of the inmates. At present, 17 of the 37 men live here with their families. A. Burman, the oldest resident who came here in 1982 after an accident when he was 25, calls PRC his home. “It's here that I married in 1995. Now we have two children.” The PRC is home for these inmates and their families but it sticks to its routine with a military discipline. “The centre keeps us busy all day. PT In the morning, basketball practice, and making wire brushes, candles, sweaters,” says P.P. Pradhan, who has represented PRC at several national and international sporting events.

The PRCites don't believe in moping. Shukla, for instance, is all set to be a software programmer. “We have to make the most of our life,” he shrugs.

Source: Standing tall, Indian Express, New Delhi, 4 November 2007.

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Trinayani

Ritika Sahni, a Hindi film playback singer, has set up Trinayani, a registered trust that works towards creating awareness on how to behave with the disabled and also to support rehabilitation and education for the disabled.

The trust works with and for people with disabilities and is primarily involved in creating awareness, especially in the academic community, about issues pertaining to disability and the rights of a disabled person.

The one-year-old trust creates awareness through documentary films and books.

Says Sahni, “Funds are a big problem. One short film for awareness creation costs at least Rs 1 lakh. As of now it’s only me putting in the money that I earn into my trust. Trinayani also has to depend on donations.”

In the last one year of its operation, Trinayani has already campaigned in 26 schools in Kolkata alone and a few in Bombay and Pune. A few of the campaigns included teaching students sign language, so that they could communicate with the hearing disabled.

Trinayani has brought out the ‘TALK TO ME’ calendar, in association with Reliance Industries, which tries to take a small step towards erasing the lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’. It contains information that sensitises people on disability issues.

According to Sahni, approximately 6 per cent of India's population is disabled. However, the ‘normals’ do not see them, do not go to school with them, do not work with them and do not shop with them.

Trinayani, organises Disability Awareness Film Festivals of famous films on disability for school children.

Movies like Anjali by Mani Ratnam, Choo Lenge Aakash by Virendra Saini were screened to students between 10 and 16 years of age.

This helps to instill in the student community a feeling of camaraderie and togetherness, so that ordinary students accept children with disability among them and build bonds of friendship with each other, said Sahni.

Source: Pradipta Mukherjee. Trust helps erase the us-them divide. The Business Standard. Kolkata, 13 November 2007.

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