People of Value

Nidhi Kaila

Long before director Sanjay Leela Bhansali reiterated “Black” indeed is beautiful; there was Sai Paranjpye ’s equally sensitive and moving document on the life of the visually impaired. In fact, ‘Sparsh’ featuring a soul-stirring performance by Naseeuddin Shah as a blind man, had a life-altering effect on IIM-Kolkata graduate Nidhi Kaila.

“When I saw ‘Sparsh’, I realised that the blind do not want to be pitied...” Nidhi, now 29, saw the film the 1979 film while she was still studying, and her co-curricular activities included the National Service Scheme.

So deeply touched was Nidhi by the film that she made up her mind to make a difference in the world of the sightless. It ’s been almost a decade now since she watched the film and her resolve and efforts continue to grow.

Rewinding to the past, Nidhi says, “As a young child, I used to walk through the house with my eyes shut tight, trying to feel my way around. It was almost as if I were trying to sensitize myself to the plight of the blind. But when I saw ‘Sparsh’, I realised that the blind do not want to be pitied but want a chance to stand on their own feet and be independent.”

“All blind children have one thing in common-they want to help themselves.” Unlike the sight-scarred poet John Milton, who in the 17th century felt, that “they also serve (God) who only stand and wait”, the visually challenged of today are not help-seekers.

They believe in serving the Maker by doing their own thing. “I spent a lot of a time interacting with blind children in various blind schools across the country when I was in college,” elaborates Nidhi, who also works as a management consultant in Bangalore.

“I do so even now,” she continues, “The only thing common to them all is that they want to help themselves. Most blind children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds start out with the belief that they are no different from others, but by the time they reach std. VII, they realise that unlike their counterparts who are already working to earn money, they will never have the same ability. And this is a very disheartening realization.”

“It is a shortage of Braille or audio books that causes blind children to drop out…” According to Nidhi, the breakpoint comes when they find out that they can’t do science experiments or continue their education like other kids.”

Most science experiments in labs are geared towards collecting results using sight, not sound, and this hampers children with a sight disorder. Also, unknown to most people, it is the shortage of Braille or audio books that causes most blind children from economically challenged backgrounds to forgo education, and not the fact that they can ’t study further.”

In an attempt to rectify this situation, Nidhi launched ‘Esha’ in January 2005. She had learnt Braille typing years ago and decided to put it to use by starting a mail-order book facility, where students could directly request a book in Braille or on audiotape.

The only payment the student had to make was for the cost of the cassette or the Braille paper. ‘Esha’, the Braille bookstore, was a one-person initiative. However, the issue of creating a sustainable source of income for the blind still remained a nagging one.

“I want the visually challenged to not just survive, but to earn a decent wage.” While ‘Black’ portrayed Rani Mukherji’s Helen Keller like character as receiving great support from her family, and guru Amitabh Bachpan in her quest for higher education and a life of independence, everyday reality does not necessarily present the same picture.

The common attitude towards people with disabilities is so negative,” rues Nidhi. “People think that the disabled should be content to earn bare minimum wages. That is extremely unfair. I don’t believe in that. I ’ve always wanted to draft a plan through which the visually impaired could not just eke an existence, but also earn a wage decent enough to support themselves and better their out in the world.”

It was quite by chance, that Nidhi stumbled upon the idea of printing visiting cards in Braille. Internationally, it is an accepted practice to have names embossed in Braille on visiting cards alongside printed information. This set her thinking that if in India even 10 per cent of visiting cards were Braille–embossed, it would be enough to support quite a few blind individuals for a long time.

“Braille-enabled visiting cards help not just to create greater awareness among people with vision, but also work as a great business model that could make economical self-reliance a possibility for the blind,” explains Nidhi.

A simple and motion study indicated that it would take a blind person about 20 to 40 minutes to emboss a set of 100 visiting cards. Projected further, this meant, that a blind person, working eight hours a days for 25 days a month, could look at a monthly income of about Rs 15, 000 to 20, 000 if one card is charged at Re. 1.

However, the actual implementation hasn’t been that simple. “My biggest challenge in getting this off the ground has been to train blind children to understand that this is a business, so quality is of utmost importance.

The cards must look aesthetically appealing, and every assignment must be completed within a week,” says Nidhi. “ Another very stringent criterion for me while selecting a child for training is to ensure that these funds are being used by the child and not being siphoned off to the blind school or family.”

Nidhi’s dream of creating a self-reliant world for the blind does not end with Braille visiting cards. She hopes that through ‘Esha’, she will be able to create more income-generating opportunities. “Recording books on tape is one option,” she reveals. “But for this, voice and accent training is as important as is getting recording studios at a low cost.”

“I want to ensure that the money goes entirely to the blind person and not to my institution.” In all of this, Nidhi remains clear about one thing, ‘Esha’ will not accept donations or take a cut or profit from any of these ventures.

“I just want to try and ensure that the money goes to the blind person and not to the institution. ” This is important for the visually impaired employees to feel truly self-reliant,” she avers.

With her first delivery unit, (a batch of five children trained by her) in Bangalore, almost ready to go solo, Nidhi is now planning to concentrate on Mumbai and create a second unit there.

“My dream remains the same to create a world in which the blind do not live on charity or with the feeling that they are being overpaid because of their disability. They should be paid fairly for the work they do.”

Source: Seema Chowdhry Sharma, Black to Life, Femina, Mumbai, September 27, 2006.

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Priti Fadnis

“My son Kunal will drop you home,” says Joint Secretary of the Amputees Society of India Trust, Baroda, Priti Fadnis, as I turn to walk to an auto rickshaw after interviewing her in Gadapura, Baroda. While I try to decline, something about the gentle tone in her voice convinces me to take up the offer.

We have been through a two-hour-long session of what amputees can do if given the right kind of prosthesis. And by asking Kunal to drop me home, Priti, in her own ways wants me to see it for myself.

So, I watch the 24-year-old Kunal dust the backseat of the scooter for me, start it and ride me through the by-lanes with utmost ease to drop me to office. As he disappears into the sea of traffic, he mingles with them, becomes one with bikers his age, exactly the way nature intended it to be. No one can tell that he lost both his legs in an accident about six years ago.

When tragedy struck

Kunal’s accident in December 2000 was traumatic to the family and most of all to Priti, who was too shocked to even react to the fact that her son would have to go through amputation. The life of a seemingly simple homemaker and wife of a bank employee, who taught music for leisure, wasn’t easy anymore.

“I was devastated,” she says. “My child had to lose both his legs and as a mother I was ripped apart.”

Hope came in the form of Kunal’s doctor, Virendra Shandilya, a prosthetist and orthotist. But six years ago sophisticated prosthesis wasn’t easily available in India.

“Kunal was initially on the bulky Jaipur foot that wasn’t just cumbersome but also impractical. At times, the foot would fall of while getting on a train or while on a bike. Since it was heavy, the limb would have bruises and it would be extremely painful,” she says.

Life shows the larger picture

A month later in January 2001, the Gujarat earthquake took a huge toll of life. Thousands were rendered homeless and many lost their limbs.

“It was God’s way of telling us that our tragedy wasn’t that severe,” says Fadins. “Kunal had a family to take care of him: there were many out there who didn’t. We even took him to meet the victims. An amputee ’s psychology is different from someone who has a disability since birth.

The depression is different, so is the attitude to life. I was concerned that he should carry on with his life, with day-to-day activities, simple things such as boiling water for his bath, getting on and off a chair or a stool, etc.

It was tough for both of us. His body and his mind had to get used to the new perspective life had forced on him,” she says.

But that was the beginning of Priti’s trials and tribulations. Kunal was a bright student and wanted to pursue B.Sc. with physics, chemistry and mathematics but the MS University in Bardoda asked him to opt for statistics, economics and maths since they believed that he couldn’t stand for long hours during the practical.”

That added to his frustration,” says Priti. “He started cutting private tuition classes because all of them were located on the first second floors and he had a tough time climbing the stairs.

He would even lie to me.” That was when she decided to take the bull by the horns. “I told him that he had to study, come what may, and that if he didn’t go to classes, I would lift him up and take him there,” she says.

“We worked out a schedule where he could go to classes early so that he could take time to climb the steps and be there on time. I tried speaking to the University authorities too,” she says.

A breakthrough leads to a mission

Soon Kunal got admission into the engineering at the Birla Vishwakarma Mahavidyalaya giving the family a much-needed cause for celebration. Another breakthrough happened when Priti’s continuous search for newer, comfortable prosthesis bore results.

With Dr. Shandilya’s help, she came across prosthesis made of carbon-fibre. Imported from Germany and London, it was expensive but provided the comfort needed, to the body. “It suited Kunal immensely,” she says.

“The new prosthesis fitted his body type, had shock absorbers that helped him not waste too much of his energy. ”

Resolved to see that other families don’t go through the same troubles she had to undergo, Priti joined the Amputees Society of India, to reach out to a larger group of people. Today, as its Joint Secretary, she helps families identify suitable prostheses.

“They suit all age groups, all body types and are sensitive to diabetics too,” she says. As for the depression that inevitably strikes the amputees, Priti is there to counsel the family about how life goes on despite the problems.

“When the other amputees see Kunal, they are kindled with the hope that things will be on track soon,” she says.

As for Kunal, there is a lot he has to say for his mother who stood by him through thick and thin.” She never refused me anything,” he says, “she encourage me to get back to studying and then dancing, that was always my passion.

Today I dance with the Kanu Patel group whenever I have time. I also have plans to do an M. Tech in Automobiles, thanks to her.

Kunal feels that his mother’s training helped him immensely. “It is unusual for amputees to live alone in hostels. I do that, without any difficulties only because my mother was strict with me when I had lost hope,” he says.

“She held my hand and made me walk throughout the house, in the courtyard, our street and then outside. Today, I stand in the lab for four hours while I watch some of my classmates faint if they have skipped their breakfast,” he adds.

In a dance competition organized by ‘Vadodara’ News Magazine, a local television channel, Kunal stood first with a solo number. And no one knew that the winner was a dancer with a handicap.

When the organisers discovered it, they announced it to the crowd, there was silent jubilation. For Priti Fadnis, the biggest victory of her life, was in this quiet moment.

Source: Mother on a strong will-chair, Femina, Mumbai, September 27, 2006.

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