Sightless get new view of Sanchi Stupas

This story and picture of the then Leader of opposition of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickramasinghe and that of the Blind children of the Arushi were a double whammy for me and one can say just landed on my lap while I was a private visit to the Sanchi Stupa with my wife in November 2000. First their was a huge crowd surrounding the former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and later I saw some blind children gathered around the board and trying to read what was written in Braille to their in-charge. My passion for photographing them started much to the annoyance of my wife. I still went ahead and started to speak to the children and to my surprise I landed a national level story for the underprivileged.
So after I went back to Bhopal and released the pictures of the Sri Lankan’s visit to the holy Sanchi Stupa and later asked my Editor if I could go ahead and write about the blind children’s involvement in putting up a board in Braille to help the other visually impaired visitors to this world heritage site in Madhya Pradesh. Below is the Story which on the front page of the Hindustan Times all India editions and the picture of the Sri Lankan leader which was used in the Bhopal Edition of the Hindustan Times.

RANIL WICKRAMASINGHE LEADER OF OPPOSITION IN THE SRI LANKAN PARLIAMENT GOES AROUND THE SANCHI STUPA BEFORE BEING BLESSED BY THE SACRED RELICS OF ARAHANS SARIPUTTA AND MOGGALLAN THE CLOSE DISCIPLES OF LORD BUDDHA AT SANCHI STUPA DURING HIS VISIT TO INDIA IN THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2000.


Sightless get new view of Sanchi Stupas

Even if Radheshyam Panwaria cannot savour the visual splendour of the Sanchi stupas, he can at least delve into its glorious past now. Courtesy a novel initiative by the Archaecological Survey of India (ASI), Bhopal Circle and an NGO Arushi, a brief on the world famous Buddhist monuments has been put up in Braille and a wheel chair provided at the site for the physically impaired.
Thousands of others afflicted from visual and other forms of physical disability can look forward to visiting this World Heritage monument built by King Ashoka.
There are also plans for putting up more Braille boards at six other archaeological sites through out Madhya Pradesh by the end of next year.
For Starters, this facility has created history in itself, as it if the first of it's kind in the country for the visually impaired where the incidence of partial and total visual disability is very high. This could well be a learning experience for both the governments at the State and the Center to set information boards in Braille at various other historical sites - starting maybe from the Taj Mahal in Agra?
Anil Mudgal, a volunteer of Arushi, mooted the concept. He was bombarded with questions every time he took blind students to Sanchi. "This time when these students were given these details in Braille, they were satisfied. They did not forget anything they had learned through the Braille and this is what provoked me to push this project through."
Dr Mishra said that he was aware of this facility, having seen it in Munich, Germany and at a Roman site, which he visited some years ago. "When the Arushi people approached me, I was thrilled and we went ahead with the project. I feel it will be a success."

Dr Mishra said that the ASI - Arushi endeavour was to put up Braille details and the wheelchair facility in world -famous sites like Khajuraho, Mandu and Bhimbetka. ASI and Arushi are also coming up with other useful projects like information on historical sites in the Braille book format and the audio-cassettes to help the physically challenged. Dr Mishra will be shortly requesting his fellow officers of other ASI zones to make such facilites for the disabled. He feels that it will not be a difficult task since the cost factor is minimal.
Radheshyam, who was seen checking for grammatical or spelling mistakes on the Braille board at Sanchi said that these efforts would "help people like us." Incidentally, he would also pit his chess skills against none other than Vishwanath Anand some time next month!

Inagural World 10K Marathon

With the second edition of the World 10K Marathon round the corner in the month of May, I thought to rewind and put together some of the last year's World 10K marathon in images showcasing the professional runners and then the cross section of society who ran for their city's pride.
The World 10K run was organized by Procam International, which also organizes the Mumbai International full marathon and New Delhi’s International half marathon.
The World 10K run also became the richest one by summing up a total of 41.35 lakh rupees towards charity. The second edition will be held on May 31st 2009.




Ashwini Nachappa and Dhanraj Pillai along with other runners at the Sunfeast World 10K Marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.





Young and old run shoulder to shoulder during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.

Hari and his wife Ashiwini along with their 11 month old baby run during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (Left) as A father carries his son on his shoulders during the Open and Maja run (right), all they had in mind was complete the 10 kilometers.





So What if we are tired to run as participants we will walk to complete the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.




One for the album: a group of runners get them selves photographed near the Vidhan Soudha during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (Left) as a woman poses and shows her thumps up sign while being photographed (right).

Some of the participants came dressed up for the occasion and ran to kill the onlookers but ensured that they did not slip on their way to completing the World 10K Maja run.

Some of the participants did not get deterred by their children or their pets but instead ensured that they complete the Maja run and get the certificate for completing the first World 10K Marathon.

The determination with which the garden city responded was just great as seen from the two pictures above where one got to see elderly people along with the blind and disabled not only participating but completing the run with sheer grit of any Bangalorean has.

Elite men runners speed through the streets of Bangalore in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon (left top), Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea and Moses Kipsiro from Uganda approach the Kantreeva stadium as they run in Cubbon Park with the majestic Bangalore Central Library building in the backdrop (top right) and then finish first and second respectively.

Elite women runners speed through the streets of Bangalore in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (top left), Elvan Abeylegesse (24) and Grace Momanyi of Kenya (27) lead the pack to the Kantreeva Stadium on Cubbon road, (top right) and then declared as the joint winners after the organizers could not get a photo finish picture to finalize the results.



Through out the event the traffic came a to a stand still and the daily commuters cheered the participants all along the 10 kilometers stretch heralding an new era of marathon running for the sport loving residents of the silicon city of Bangalore.

A Survivor's Tale

This picture below fetched me the World Health Organization's Photo Competition award in 2005 in the theme 'Health & Disability'.
This picture was taken 29th of November, 2004. My friend Abdul Jabbar who runs an NGO for the betterment of the survivor's affected in the Bhopal Gas tragedy which claimed thousands of lives in 1984, said that one survivor needed urgent help and only the media can do that for her. Jabbar who knew I was working with Hindustan Times and also feeding images for the AFP requested me to come since most of the other local journalist and photographers in Bhopal had refused to help him in his struggle.
He had told me how this 40 year old Gazalla (then 36) had to fight with a lot of red tape to get her treatment done free of cost from the Madhya Pradesh Government. This made an interesting story and so I requested Jabbar to take me to her home. Once inside I found that she had lost her eyesight and also was paralytic on one side due the side effects caused by the Union Carbide pesticide plant's gas leak. Then to my luck I saw an old black & white picture of a very pretty girl in her teens and asked her father 'who is this good looking girl', he smiled and told me that it is Gazalla herself when she was 16 years old. Immediately I asked for the picture to be cleaned up an asked Gazalla to hold it next her present state of face.
I came back to the office and filed this picture along with an story caption for Hindustan Times - Bhopal edition and also send a few images to AFP. The picture was given three column space in the Bhopal live pages. The Next morning to my suprise I was getting calls from various newspapers, magazines and TV Correspondents from across the country asking me for the address of Gazalla . Later that day I got to know from my friend Jabbar that, Gazalla's home was flooded with TV crews from across the country and senior correspondents from various leading newspapers. Well I felt happy that I was able to do something worth for an lady who required help. As for Gazalla herself, after a hectic day called me up and thanked me for all the help I had done for her and her family.
Later in 2005 I entered this image for an World Health Organization photo competition and to my surprise it got awarded and was put on display at the Annual World Health Conference held in Switzerland as one of the 10 best photographs from around the world in the theme 'Health & Disability'.
The WHO officials later the same year send three sets of Postal cards with my picture on it and told me that they had made world wide release of these post cards. This award is more precious to me than any of my previous International awards which I had received so far.

36 year old Gazalla a Muslim girl who was blinded by the Bhopal gas tragedy shows an old photo of herself 20 years ago in this picture taken at her home on November 29th 2004.