Deepanshu, a class 6 student of the state government-run Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya on Delhi’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, starts his day at 6.30 am. “He doesn’t like waking up for school,” says his mother Sulochana, who is on a month-long leave from another school where she works as a guard. Deepanshu’s class of 30 boys, all around 11 years of age, is full of energy in the morning, with most kids running around and cracking jokes. But this child from a one-room tenement on Asaf Ali Road, which he shares with his mother and his six-year-old sister, Bhoomika, quietly takes his place on a bench and starts colouring on a piece of paper.
Impervious to the din around him, Deepanshu’s eyes stay focused on the paper and his brush moves constantly. Even the teacher fails to get his attention as he carries on with his painting. Deepanshu says he loves drawing animals the most.
You get to know soon that he isn’t big on talking. And when he chooses to speak, you have to pay attention or you...
