The Kumars with their daughter.-- Photo: Special Arrangement When Krishna Kumar, a teacher with Kendriya Vidyalaya, R.K. Puram, Sector 2, gave birth to two special daughters, she and her husband, a doctorate in chemistry from Pusa Research Institute Dr. Sushil Kumar, "didn't cry or feel bad about the gifts", as they put it. Instead they decided to take care of their girls and also other 'such' children. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/living-for-special-children/article6324915.ece Since Ms. Kumar didn't know how to "handle" such kids, she visited Aadi, a centre for special children at Dwarka. When her elder daughter Sonal turned 18, the centre said they couldn't keep her any longer. So, in 1996, she, with a homemaker Shuba Mukherjee, opened Udaan, a home for special children in Delhi.
And by 2007, the Kumars opened another such centre with their own money at Faridabad called Sonalsmriti. The reason for opening it is heart wrenching. Recalls Ms. Kumar, now retired and living in Greater Kailash: "Sonal died in 2002 after reaching the age of 23. I went into depression, more so because she was very intelligent and headstrong. She wanted to become something in life but her body didn't cooperate. She was well aware of the happenings around her like any normal educated person. For instance, on the death of Rajiv Gandhi, she didn't eat her meals. It was only after his cremation that we could persuade her to eat." Ms. Kumar wanted to keep Sonal alive in her memory. So she bought an inexpensive plot in a rather deserted area at that time, Greenfield Colony at Faridabad, and dedicated five years to make a spacious, barrier-free building for the special children. Now, it is a well-equipped centre with trained staff which includes physiotherapists, neurotherapists and support staff. What makes it unique is that it caters to children Below Poverty. About her younger daughter Nupur, now 31, Krishna: "She is extremely ill. She was hospitalised for days and has come back yesterday. Now she cannot have diapers as it generates rashes, she needs someone to help her." So is the case with the support staff. Says Ms. Kumar: "Whenever I get overwhelmed and cry, my staff tells me, `Why do you cry for the kind of kids you have, rather why don't you think that because of your kids, we are able to run our kitchen. `Aapke bachchon ki vajah se hamare ghar ka choolha jalta hai'. This gives me strength to go on." Ms. Kumar is very clear about one thing: "I don't keep more than 20 children at a time, so that every child can get dedicated personal attention." Sonalsmriti runs on funds donated by people. Incidentally, she was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for doing real ground work at the loca -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU 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/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
