One more review has appeared in the Telegraph. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140627/jsp/opinion/story_18553046.jsp This Author talks about one blind woman in gujarat she is expert in sepearating stones from rice. How cool! SEE IT FEELINGLY
Unpretentious and unsentimental, yet full of a dogged empathy and curiosity, THE LIGHT WITHIN: A DIFFERENT VISION OF LIFE (Niyogi, Rs 1,000) is a rich and useful book by the photojournalist, Sipra Das, about the lives of the blind and the visually impaired. It collects photographs of a wide range of men, women and children living and working with various degrees of blindness, alone or in different relationships and communities, together with brief accounts of their lives and work, collected over more than a decade. From coconut pickers and motorcycle mechanics to musicians, stage and film actors, homemakers, company executives and social workers, Das's subjects -- they are never 'objects' of pity or condescension in her eyes -- come from all over India, and from across the social spectrum. With an adventurousness that she shares with many of her subjects, and an endearing sense of humour, Das follows them around their daily lives, chores and leisure, during moments of intimacy or solitude, or when they "cross over to means that aren't strictly above board" in collaborating over a test paper at a special examination centre for blind students. She does this without stopping to worry too much about what the politically correct thing to do or say would be when encountering the severely challenged. Nor does she try to make art out of her photographs, or literature out of her writing, although her combining of image and text -- in no-frills sans-serif typography and design -- manages to document not only her ostensible subjects but also a great deal more. At a practical level, this book will be of immense help to social workers, educationists, counsellors, therapists and policy-makers trying to create modes of intervention and support for the visually impaired of all ages, keeping in mind the specificities of sexual, cultural and economic difference. At another level, because Das's interest in blindness is not literary, aesthetic or metaphysical (unlike that of, say, Sophie Calle or Derrida), she allows readers to reflect freely on the astonishing human materials collected in this humble and beautifully 'naïve' book. What do we make, for instance, of this episode from the life of Kamal Kanjilal, 36, a member of the Blind Opera in Calcutta? "At the crowded cremation ground, he sat next to his mother's lifeless body for hours, his hand on her forehead. As the time to consign her to flames drew near, he got up and went out for a breather. By the time he returned, the body was gone, but Kamal had no way of knowing. He sat down at the same spot and thought the body lying there was his mother's. It wasn't. He held on to the stranger's body until he learnt that his mother had already been cremated." Left: Khurshida Bano, 28, from Gujarat -- a shopkeeper "adept at separating stones from rice". She and her four sisters all suffer from optical atrophy. Right: A blind man touches the time. AVEEK SEN On 3/14/14, avinash shahi <[email protected]> wrote: > How beautifully written piece talks about ourselves. > Now I understood why Mr Raj has been so upbeat about reporting and > writing about blind people in particular and disabled in general. > We should certainly invite author of the book Sipra Daas to discuss > her photographic journey in the lives of blind people some day in > Delhi. > http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131124/ground.htm > > They don't know what darkness is > It is society that continues to remain both blind and dark about the > world of the visually impaired and their extraordinary capabilities. > Raj Chengappa > > There are so many sordid happenings in the country these days that the > little good that occurs is often buried in a welter of negative news. > Among them was the President of India releasing a book titled "The > Light Within", a photo chronicle of the many visually impaired people > in our country, which I had the pleasure of introducing. The pictures > taken by Sipra Das, a journalist and former colleague, show a deep > understanding of the lives of the people who cannot see and yet > demonstrate an extraordinary ability to experience the fullness of > life shorn of self-pity, diffidence or bitterness. > Billamangal Sardar visits home in Kolkata once a year, only to be > greeted by neglect. > > > Among the many telling photographs in the book that I liked is that of > J. Kaul, a New Delhi teacher. While he listens to a transistor, his > wife Usha, who has also lost her sight, lovingly sews a button onto > his shirt. Kaul says that when he met Usha "it was love at first > sight", and adds, "Who says I am blind? I cannot see with my eyes but > I can see with my heart. That is something you cannot." > > Then there are moving visuals of Vishal Rao, a sightless 29-year-old, > playing his flute in a boat in the backwaters of Mumbai. Vishal says > his impairment actually gives him greater powers of concentration, > which helps him pick up skills faster than most other people. Rao > says, "I enjoy beauty of all sorts, it does not matter how it is > conveyed, whether through sound, touch or smell." > > Many of them like Nakul Adhikari even joke about their handicap. A > physiotherapist in Mumbai, he says with a smile, "A normal girl will > get pure love from a blind boy like me for I will never look at > another woman." > > Yet, as the pictures in the book and the brief write-ups next to them > show, we as a society continue to discriminate against the visually > impaired. There is a photograph filled with poetry and pathos of > Billamangal Sardar, a 14-year-old from Kolkata, at the seashore > enjoying the feel, the smell and the sound of the sea surf. He says, > "Some people feel that I am helpless and a burden. My family and > friends have no idea what I am capable of. They think I am abnormal. I > do not react because I don't think it's worth it." There are many such > moving pictures in Sipra's book that will help you fathom the world of > the blind and no more look upon them with pity or discomfort. > > I have a personal anecdote that helped me understand their world > better. I met a visually impaired couple in Agra while visiting Taj > Mahal in the mid-Eighties. The irony of the situation struck me as > they went around touching what is the world's most beautiful monument > of love. > > On the return journey to Delhi, we were seated in the same railway > compartment and I struck up a conversation with them. When we alighted > I offered them a lift home and was surprised when after a few minutes > the man scolded the taxi driver for taking a wrong turn. I asked him > how he knew that, and he said he had memorised the number of turns to > his house and the time taken before each so that no taxi driver could > cheat him. > > I was impressed and after that spent days with them understanding > their life. They lived in a government accommodation in Delhi with two > children, both with normal vision. He worked as a teacher in a music > school and knew the road to it by feel and sound. He knew he was > walking in an open area by listening to the way the birds flapped > their wings - if they flew freely it meant there was no building > obstructing flight. He told me that at night when he slept he dreamt > only "in words". For me, the most memorable statement was when I asked > him whether he knew what light was. He said: "I don't know what > darkness is." > > The visually impaired do not live a life of darkness - they shine, as > the title of Sipra's book says, with the light within. It is society > that continues to remain both blind and dark about their world and > their extraordinary capabilities. We need to dispel the darkness that > shrouds our attitude towards them and work towards changing the > misperceptions that we have about the abilities of the visually > impaired. > > [email protected] > > > > > -- > Avinash Shahi > M.Phil Research Scholar > Centre for The Study of Law and Governance > Jawaharlal Nehru University > New Delhi India > -- Avinash Shahi M.Phil Research Scholar Centre for The Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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