February 18, 2007 - It was an enlightening experience.  For the first time in life I came across mentally challenged children.  And I was into tears, those of happiness, seeing them dance with such energy and sing from their heart.  You were introduced to the performers in an article here . Now, I will tell you about the show ‘Big Wonders’ that could have stirred you and touched your soul.

It is one thing to simply hear about them, have sympathy, then ignore and forget them.  It is another thing to have a genuine, strong heart to face them, understand their feelings and encourage them.  Only those who came and witnessed this event – the audience – would know.  As Mr. Jogani rightly said that after meeting them and seeing their performance, he can’t say who is more mentally challenged – them or us.

 Valabhdas Dagara Indian Society for Mentally Challenged (VDISMC) (www.vdis.org) was established in 1973 and is situated in Mumbai.  It has nearly 500 students, and several dedicated and patient teachers who work so hard to identify each student’s strength and hone their skills in that particular field – sports, arts, sing, dance, and so forth.  ‘Big Wonders’ – a Bollywood musical concert is one of the outcomes of the training, which has done 35 shows all over India so far.  

It was revealed that it takes the singers about 5 years to actually memorize a whole song, and when heard the golden oldies that were sung by Neha, Nilesh and the wheelchair-bound Tushar – you would be surprised at their talents. I especially was touched by Lata Mangeshkar’s song beautifully sung by Neha :

 

                                            Panchhi banoon udti phiroon mast gagan mein,
                                            Aaj main azaad hoon duniya ke chaman mein

 

I believe this is exactly what this school is trying to do for them – to help them, develop them, and make them independent, so that they all can sing this song proudly … one day.

Also, the incredible handmade artifacts on exhibit by some children from this institution would make you believe some expert hands worked on them – That’s the kind of skill these hard-working kids are practicing.  Even the host Manish could remember so many meaningful sher-o-shayari and had good stage confidence – this has happened after growing up in this establishment for 14 years.

With the co-ordination that these mildly mentally hindered dancers performed, I lack words to express how impressive it was.  All the Bollywood songs performed kept us glued to the seats because the kind of dynamism they had was beyond expectations.  But it takes them years of practice for something that it would take us a few weeks – and That’s the difference that needs to be appreciated.

I know some people do not like to go to such shows or are not interested in such charity events thinking that they can’t watch such children perform only for entertaining the public.  But it’s their talent that they are humbly presenting to you in spite of the difficulties they have in life.  All they need is some motivation, appreciation, and a little of your TIME.  Is that too much to ask for?

The Cricket bat that was signed by a number of players was auctioned at 375,000 THB by Mr. Surendra Patel, a very generous person, and because of Mr. Jogani, several sponsors, and the support of audience, the total money donated to the organisation reached almost 1 million INR.  Many thanks to Jogani Entertainment for giving such an opportunity to an institution to perform in a foreign country for the first time, and to us ignorant people to see what exists beyond our personal world.

My dear readers, this institution has many plans for its specially gifted kids.  They have dreamt of a better future for their children.  Please give wings to their dreams.  Please give a chance to these mentally challenged children to live a life with pride.  Please donate from your heart whatever you can, as much as you can for such foundations.
If this article has affected you even the least bit - To contribute : please contact Mr. Jogani ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ) or e-mail the institute :  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

If I may add, “What We Are Is God's Gift To Us.  What We Become Is Our Gift To God.”

May God bless them … and us …

 

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 The article has been contributed by Nisha Malani, student of Telecom Engineering, Assumption University.