[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here’s a reason why physically challenged people are stated differently abled’. Most of the times, it has been found that, staying aloof from the society, certain abilities in them become supremely potential, which if channelized efficiently can produce miracles.
It is with this idea that Esha Kar, a resident of Kolkata in her thirties, has founded the theater ‘Kothakolom’, which helps differently abled children, who suffer from diseases like autism, mental retardation, Down syndrome and rod-cone dystrophy, to express themselves through acting.
‘Kothakolom’, though formed three years back, has started including differently abled children only since last year. Kar thinks that these children, who are rejected by schools owing to difficulty in studying and adapting to the ambience, can be guided to act and she has been successful to certain extent.
Kar says, “The key is patience. I cannot just instruct them how to perform and they will follow. They live in a world of their own and interrupt with totally irrelevant questions. I have to listen to them and answer it.”
“But nonetheless, they are much more obedient unlike many normal children, focused and don’t give up before finishing the task. We have currently eight to nine such children doing wonders with us,” she added.
Interestingly, some members of Esha Kar’s theatre group have also performed in a Hollywood production named ‘One Little Finger’, by Rupam Sarmah. Among the members of Kothakolom performing in the film are Soayomdeb Mukherjee (Den), Jija and Chandreyi.
Their latest performance was a totally different approach through a skit based upon the New Delhi rape incident of 2012. Three specially-challenged actors took the stage among other performers last month in University Institute Hall at College Square.
Kar describes how she could relate to the indomitable spirit of the victim and the three specially-challenged performers of the group, which encouraged her to take on the subject.
“They all are fighting battles in different battlegrounds. One such actor is Den, who suffers from cerebral palsy and could not speak till he was 25. Since then he has authored a book and has even worked as executive producer in films,” said Kar.
She added, “Jija, who too suffers from similar disease is now a member of Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP), like Den. And, Chandreyi suffers from rot cone dystrophy, which gives her only 20 percent vision. She will be giving her second year exam in Education Hons. from Loreto College.”
However encouraging the task may seem, it had its challenges. Kar describes the difficulties faced by the group during the rehearsals, where the members even got injured.
“None of the three had stage experience before this. For Chandreyi with eye-sight problem, I had to send her scripts in Whatsapp and she memorized it by listening. On stage, we had to work meticulously on her step count, so that she does not end falling from it. Den, who is wheel chair bound had even injured himself few times during the rehearsals,” said Kar.
The play was interestingly named, ‘Black Holes are Not Black’, inspired from a chapter of Stephen Hawking’s book ‘A brief history of Time’.
“It was Hawking, who claimed contrary to popular belief in his book that black hole is not black. We want to convey, similarly, that life is not all dark. Those are just phases and it will pass on to the beautiful ones,” said she.
