Age: 21 years
(started her journey with Prabhat at the age of 16)
Condition: Mild mental retardation (and prone to severe epileptic attacks)
Enjoys dancing and painting
It is said ‘to know the true meaning of freedom, release a caged bird and you will know’. ..was also like that – caged in her own house away from prying eyes. She was filled with anger and highly irritable every time we tried to speak to her. Till the age of 16 that child was not sent to any school was ridiculed and ignored even at home. Her parents are from a conservative background and were not open to sending her to any of Prabhat’s Centre. But having heard of the benefit it might bring, her the mother agreed to initially bring her for a couple of days. As she entered the Centre on the first day her eyes grew wider and brighter, she went around looking at all the things, touching and feeling the paintings that were on display, she looked at the colorful toys and her eyes could see no end to a world she had never heard of and never seen. Her mother was equally surprised to see her so excited. The initial few days flew by and her mother finally realized how important it was for her to interact with the outside world in whatever little way that she could. From then on she has been very regular and has taken extra interest in vocational trainings which include art and craft, painting, etc. She has honed her skills to such an extent that she designs and makes Rakhi’s on her own and they are brilliant, liked by one and all. She has earned her place within her family as well. The other aspect which came to realization is her love for sports and physical activity; she was one of the participants at the Khel Maha Kumbh (a sports event, with special categories for those with special needs) organized by the government of Gujarat. She won the first round and qualified for the next successive round which were to be held in another city not too far from Ahmedabad, though her parents were hesitant initially to send her out of town, were pleasantly surprised when she returned with a winning sum ₹ 10,000. With a family struggling to make ends meet an amount as big as that was something they never expected let alone from a child they ignored and thought was a burden and shame to the family!
She has now also learnt to paint and is doing work which she is being paid for, she is painting handkerchiefs all by herself. Unfortunately she is prone to epileptic attacks which takes a toll on her body, but she has not let all that shatter her confidence or her skills, she still continues to do the painting work from home, she comes to the Centre whenever she is fit. She is now a calm and composed young girl confident of herself and her surroundings and also living with happy memories of that day she won the relay race. For her it wasn’t the prize money which she won, she probably does not even realize the exact value of 10,000 rupees, but for her it is the sheer joy of running and running and running under the open sky.
