THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED, HELP POTRAIT AND MADDENING DRUM CIRCLE..

"I have not been handicapped by my condition. I am physically challenged and differently able." - Janet Barnes - recognized as the longest living quadriplegic incomplete (Guinness World Records)

There is pity, sadness, grief and sense of incomplete existence when we look at people who are termed as "crippled" by many of us who are not one amongst them. Does anybody even think of going further than the accumulated thoughts of our own mental blocks towards their physical challenges? We would all chuckle to a "NO" because we find ourselves too superior and fulfilled in every aspect of life.

Ohkay, lets talk about HELP-POTRAIT and it's relation with our subject-matter. It is a world-wide event conducted on every first saturday of December where all photographers, hairstylists and makeup artists will find people in need, take their pictures, print their pictures and deliver it back to them-free of charge. Just clicking the photographs was a little pale on thought, and there we had THE DRUM CIRCLE,AHMEDABAD rocking the show to add happiness to those society-bound faces of physically challenged. Yes, they made the kids play the drums to a great honour. When was ever a time when you saw djembe drums being used for such a beautiful purpose!! 

Arjun, who is a resident at "The Society For Physically Handicapped, Ahmedabad" sat in a row wearing specs. He looked at me and smiled with a very shy approach. Though he couldn't speak clearly, he managed to specify it thrice that he studies in 9th standard and his best friend is Bharat. As I looked at him when he was getting up for a photo session, I realised that he could bearly walk due to orthopaedically weak limbs. I saw him again during the drum circle after he got his photographs clicked in the premises. His upper limbs were mal-formed and he was hitting high with joy when the drumming session was going on. I saw him playing the drum with as much ecstasy as any drum freak, and I also saw normal functional beings shying away from the session. It was all in the aura of being in the moment. I chose to mention Arjun because his apearance was very calm and composed, but there were many more like him, just like him-physically challenged and yet happy.

Belonging to the healthcare sector, I have seen smiles turning into tears and tears turning to smiles. Acceptance is always difficult and looking at people struggling with that phase is even more difficult when you are aware that you cant help them any further. These kids were beyond these aspects of thoughtfulness which are mere constraints. They live normal lives, they love to eat, they have career aspirations, they fall in love and have the zest to look beyond their own physical imperfection. I saw them dancing and singing along the latest bollywood numbers for us. They made few of us dance and sing along on public demand. It wasnt like we were there for them, it was more like "they were there for us" with amiable gestures and inspiring approach towards happiness. They chose their own places to get clicked and posed liked professional ramp walkers. Talking to them was spontaneous and didnt need efforts of appreciation. I wouldnt ever know what they have behind those smiles but I know that those smiles are transparent as mirrors on creativity.

As Pooja, the official photographer at the event expressed, "I have done many photoshoots before or lets say that I have clicked for many people before, but never in my life I clicked for such a good cause ... The smiles that I witnessed that morning were just amazing .... I have never seen people so excited for getting clicked... Their energies didnt match any normal levels ... They arent specially abled .. They are more abled then any one of us . Its just not possible to describe how it felt to have the privilege to click them... "How would they react!!.. How would they feel!!.. Will they like it?? .. All these things were on my mind while I was putting their pictures into the frame.. When I click people, they have all the complains about the hands being like this and the hair being like that , oh this and that... But these kids just didnt complain whereas they should be complaining the most... I coudnt go for giving away the frames today... But I could already feel what they might have felt after seeing their pictures..."..

I blinked for a while and thought that I am dreaming. We declare today that nothing is more contagious than the feeling of happiness, and physical challenges are not constraints but zeal to live before we breath the last. Each one of us is differently abled and it is just the matter of view and our own sight.