Organic Colours Of The Mind

Alpana Sarangi August 08, 2005 00:00 IST Organic Colours Of The Mind -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

Akul looks up from his work, "I can teach you to make paper. If you concentrate, then maybe even you can learn." The 19-year-old has mastered the art of making paper. In another room sits Shekhar, a shy and reticent 26-year-old, amid bright coloured thread. He’s weaving a durrie. Others are busy cutting dried flowers that have just arrived from temples—the first step in making organic colours for Holi.

Self-sufficiency with dignity—that’s the byword at the Society for Child Development (SFCD), in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. The organisation works towards social acceptance and economic empowerment of the mentally challenged—via the special school and vocational training centre it runs.

It began in 1992. A senior research officer at the department of genetics in AIIMS, Dr Madhumita Puri came across parents of special children and was acquainted with their problems. She realised that if a child’s needs were not met by the existing methods of teaching, then it was time to create an alternative one. Hence, Prabhat came into being and, later, the Raghudev School of...