Esha's Theater Workshop - Feedback of school students for a workshop held in 2015

The drama workshop was a wonderful experience where we learnt about drama. We also heard a story which taught us the importance of our eyes. We enacted plays where we were blind and showed the problems we face without them. We also learnt co-operation and team work as we presented our ideas in teams or groups. Some of the plays were amazing. This workshop gave us the opportunity to learn to imagine, different situations and our reaction to varied troubles. We understood the difficulties faced by the blind through the story where a family had to sacrifice their eyesight for a day. We pity the blind people and have decided to do or donate to them. It was an enjoyable session.
- V.P SREE VARSHINI  , VII “D”  , 6/10/15  DRAMA WORKSHOP 

The workshop has taught me a lot. I’m usually not so good in drama, but this drama workshop helped me in drama acting. The 2nd round was tough, but I like tough challenges. We had to close our eyes and enact. We all did well but I accidently hit a team mate’s face. ME and Aditi were supposed to be together but I was with Sanchya . Now I feel so hard to even close my eyes for barely 5 minutes, I think about the Blind people. So this has helped me a lot.  

Nivedha Perumal , VII “D” , 

 

This workshop was really was helpful to me as taught me many things. Firstly it taught me the importance of each and every body part. Without our eyes it’s very difficult to our day to day chores. When I grow up, I would invent something so that the blind people do not have to be blind anymore. Eyes are one of the main organs in our body and we should take good care of it. I also learnt to coordinate with my team mates. The most important thing I learnt today is that not only facial expressions are important but we should also show emotions in the way we speak. I am very grateful that I could be a part of this workshop.

       NIRUPAMA (VIII)

 

 

This workshop was really fantastic. I liked the workshop and now I love drama even though I was not really fond of drama before. It was how we acted together was good and expressing thoughts and showing your feelings in a play was super fun. How each character just fell into place in their roles was great. Especially showing our talents that we never thought we had was interesting. Like I always thought I had stage fear but now I was able to shout and jump and cry on the stage freely. I feel sorry for those people who missed this I would be super delighted if these type of workshops could be held more times for others too.

                                                                    SRISNEHA (VII D)

 

 

I liked this workshop because it was fun and I really enjoyed it. I got to cooperate with my group. It was also a new experience. I felt that blind people don’t have to struggle. They always have someone to help. I then realised that even if I close my eyes for some time I feel scared. I am really lucky to have two eyes.                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                       Thank you

UDBHAV KRISHNAMANI (VII B)

 

My feedback is that this workshop was a great learning through dialogues and not only through action. We also learnt how to cooperate with other team members. This was also a great fun. We also learnt that our eyes are very important and we are very lucky to have our eyes to see this colourful and wonderful world. We must not neglect it. We must also try our best to donate something to others. In this workshop, when we had to close our eyes and act for 10 minutes but we could not do it so we thought about how blind people could live without their eyes for such a long time. So our eyes and other parts of our body are very important so do not think badly about it.

                    

S.K AMITESH ( VII B)

 

 This is one of my favourite workshop that I have been to. This experienced was so amazing. The story was very nice. Acting with my eyes closed was very tough and then after I had opened my eyes I felt like I have to come back to life and I got to know how the people who are blind feel like. The person who had conducted our workshop was a very nice person and I felt sad that he was blind. This experience was one of the best experiences.

 

 SYED AMEEN ( VII B)

  

This workshop was extremely interesting. It was very active and expressive.  I enjoyed it thoroughly. The acting part was the best.

Smitha S.

 

It was a very different experience. Though our instructor was out of sight he was able to communicate with us freely. Due to this our team spirit and communication skills increased. We also realised that the lives of blind people is not very easy life. I have not until date acted as a blind person to be blind is not easy.

Harini

 

 

This workshop was really good. I learnt that acting is a very tough profession. It was a very humorous workshop. It also made me realise how hard it is to live without one of our senses.

Vinaya

It was a new and enlightening experience to act as a blind person. It showed me the difficulties that they go through and has made sure that I will be more sensitive to them in future.

Roger

 

Basically, acting is really hard. On the top of that acting blond is even harder. This workshop has taught me that we take everything we have for granted and we should value everything we have. Blind people or those who don’t have something which is very important clearly have more willpower than I do. So we must respect them.

 

Aditya

 

I learned the importance of eyes. I was really inspired by Mr. Gholi. The activities were really fun. I got a chance to stay with a visually impaired person, so I am grateful. - Abhinav

I learnt a lot from this work top. I learnt that the eye is the window of the world. This workshop was based on how the eye is so important to us. Mr. Gholi made us do so 2 plays based on people who don’t have eyesight.

 Rex Jacob

 

Today’s session was wonderful. We learnt a lot from it but mainly we learnt the value for eyes. The plays which we did even though we were just closing our eyes we couldn’t do anything. It is so great to think that blind people are really talented, all they need is a little support from us.
Nithyaharini

 

I think it was a wonderful workshop. I learned that we shouldn’t take our eyes for granted. I also learned that being blind is not the end of the world. Blind people can still do things normal people do. In fact, something they can do much better than people with eyes.

 Akshaye

Really admire people who are visually impaired, they are absolutely legendary.

Aryan

 

 

I realized the importance of eyes. I realized that eyes are my window to the world. I also learnt that donation of eyes is an important social service.

N. Sai Shreeharini

 

Mohammed Vohra - SOIL 2018 Batch - Experience with Esha

"I lack Sight, but not Vision” is driving motivation for us to work for the noble cause.

We, School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) volunteers, got an opportunity to organize Tour De Vision (TDV) 4.0 cycling event in Gurgaon independently. I was fortunate to handle a team of 4 members under the guidance of TDV director, Rajesh Dhuddu, and founder of ESHA, Nidhi Arora. The objective was to sensitize people about the accessibility of public spaces for everyone – including differently abled.

Initially, we finalized date and venue for organizing our event. Prepared Project Charter, and Gantt chart which describes complete details of the event, task, and milestones to be accomplished. A great amount of time was invested in coordinating with our alums in gathering information about participants, corporate sponsors, promotion, snacks arrangement, balanced the budget, submission of all expenses receipts, payment to vendors. Brainstorming session helped us in setting our agenda and tasks to be accomplished on an individual basis.

Networking with the corporates and other organizations facilitated us in raising funds for our event. Multiple cold calls, and email communication helped us in reaching corporate sponsors in large scale. It was followed by scheduling meeting and pitching them to be part of this event. Conducted roadshows, advertising, digital marketing, and promotion in the corporate world for spreading our message among the public. Managing key stakeholders and fulfilling their requests was a challenging task which helped us in gaining client management skills. We ensured that expenses are minimal by identifying multiple vendors and buying products at cheapest prices.

We were fortunate to learn braille machine and printed 150 ‘Thank You!!!’ in braille. It was heart touching to see blind students from Janta Blind School crafting beautiful drawings on the gifts cards, to be given to the participants.

I was fortunate to do flag off for our event. We kept a checklist of all participants before and after the event to ensure that all are present at the venue. Blind walk and NAB (National Association of Blind) performance was followed by cycling event to sensitize how blind people function in the society.

Special thanks to all SOIL Volunteers, who helped us on the day of the event and making it successful. All credit goes to Rajesh Sir and Nidhi Ma’am for giving this wonderful opportunity to work for the social cause.

Rouble Munjal - SOIL - 2018 Batch - Experience of working with Esha

Working with ESHA foundation was one of a type experience. A typical NGO focuses on the
cause and wants other people to synthesise them but ESHA is an organization that is
working for dignity and empowerment of the visually impaired and to bring these
“differentially abled” people to the mainstream by making public space accessible for all.

I come from a mechanical background and I used to design the products that are used
by common people, but we never had the guidelines that we have to consider the
requirements that should suffice the usability of the product by these differentially abled
people.
Our government had already laid down standards for designing of infrastructure, railways,
public areas, offices but are they actually being implemented??
This questions prompted me to join ESHA foundation. When I first visited the Junta Blind
School in Gurgaon, I met the people with better senses then ours, the only difference was
we can see things clearly. Their remembering capacities are way better than ours. Our effort
can lead to one step ahead in making this mission possible.  Over the tenure of 4 months we
were assigned we two projects:
1. Creating Knowledge Resources that are available to the visually challenged at all
times, through the CLABIL (Central Library of Audio Books in Indian Languages)
project
2. Conduct a cycling fundraising event Tour De Vision
Hands-on experience is a better way of getting knowledge than a traditional classroom
programme. I had learned this in early days of my Job. Now when I am pursuing MBA, this
National level cycling event had taught me how I can implement my management skills by
taking care of different stakeholders at the same time. Under the guidance Nidhi Mam and
Rajesh Sir, our team for SOIL were able to make this event successful. I actually want to
thank ESHA foundation to give me this opportunity.

Rouble Munjal
Volunteer ESHA foundation
SOIL 2017-18

Nairit Joysula's experience with Esha - SOIL 2018 batch

As part of SOIL we have an SIP program, we have to associate with an NGO, and I chose Esha foundation. The reason why I chose Esha was because of the blind walk exhibited by the NGO founder. The blind walk was a really good way to show case what it is to feel when you do not have sight. Our objective was to conduct a TDV event, which is Tour De Vision.


The objective was to collect a little bit of funds to help the NGO run for an entire year. We were given freedom and autonomy, in the process of running the event, we also learnt about the challenges and even we became aware that how is to feel when you do not have vision.
What could do better next time, we should have our communication from the starting. From Esha, it can be having multiple events.

My next advice to the batch is you should understand the purpose of driving this is. Irrespective of the placement situation and the grading situation, if you understand the purpose properly, I think you will do everything by yourself
Nairit

Experience of Handing out a Braille Card..

Every time I speak with people who got Braille done on their cards, I hear such beautiful stories of relationships, great first impressions, people who wonder and people who love..


Sharing one such story.. this time, I requested them to please speak on camera also...

When a simple blog gets noticed.. Thank you!

Today, I woke up to a pleasant surprise.. the Esha blog has been noticed and mentioned by the indiantopblogs:


http://www.indiantopblogs.com/2018/01/blogs-for-social-cause.html


As the readers of this blog are aware, this is a list and platform that I truly value because this is a list that is dominated by quality, not the blitz. The writing is simple and effective and the presentation is brief. In short, all substance and no jazz - just the way we like it.


Thank you so much, Indiantopblogs team!


In other news, preparation for Tour De Vision 2018 is in full swing and we hope you will make time to join us in our work for public space accessibility.


Feb 18, Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon.

SOIL Esha team wins the best outgoing SIP Team - 2016! Celebration Time!!

It is our pleasure and privilege to share that our Social Innovation Program team from #SOIL - School of Inspired Leadership, has won the Best Outgoing SIP Team this year. This is an honour well deserved by the team - that worked really hard all through the year on everything that Esha does, and then some more - Blind Walk, Social Media Management, Tour De Vision, doing Braille cards, and other projects.

Please join us in congratulating Rethina Kumar, Vigneshwar Ganesan, Cauvery Jalan and Saranya Balasubramanian - for being the rock stars that they have been! Thank you Atindra Nath Bhattacharya sir and the entire SOIL team for your encouragement. And of course, Randonneur Rajesh Dhuddu for his awesome mentoring.

To celebrate their journey with Esha, they have created a special video covering everything that they did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaYggRDCD8M

And to hear their experience , we recommend that you head to Esha's Youtube channel, where videos of their feedback, and of the previous batch, are uploaded:

https://www.youtube.com/user/eshabraille/videos

The CLABIL Outreach Program is Underway!

In December this year, we had one of our audacious dreams. We dreamt that we want to take CLABIL directly to a large population that can benefit from it directly. The idea was to test the hypothesis that we can make a difference to people by giving them free access to knowledge content in their own language - without needing to read.

CLABIL Outreach Project in Delhi NCR Region, upto March 2016

Am happy to share this - we have done some extensive work around this outreach project since January 1.

The pics are in the collage above, but they really don't do justice to what we actually saw!

In other news, we also did a Braille session on March 5th at the Galleria Market, Gurgaon.

Learn Braille in 15 minutes!

 

Saying Happy Birthday to your friends in style!

A friend, who is also a young mother, asked for 15 cards with "Happy Birthday" written on them.


As we delivered, I asked her, out of idle curiosity, how she plans to use the ones with "Happy Birthday" on them.


Her response was so original that I took her permission to share it here.


When the child goes to birthday parties, they need a tag to put on the birthday present. She would like to use the card to say "Happy Birthday" on top of the gift, and just write her child's name under that braille.


What a great way to make your present stand out!

Media awareness and public engagement !!!

The students of SOIL- School of Inspired Leadership conducted the third and the last Blind walk event at Leisure valley, sector 29, Gurgaon. This time again apart from 10 SOIL students, public were also made to participate and experience it. This activity not only creates awareness, empathy but also made them sensitize the challenge towards the special skills, needs of the blind and whether public places are inclusive for them. The aim was to make public places accessible to all and to observe people’s reaction to the presence of visually impaired. It was completely different experience for all. The whole activity was covered by media, journalists from Times of India, Hindustan Times, Friday Gurgaon, ETV and 2 other magazines making us reach more people creating wider impact.

Some photos takes during Blind Walk.

Experince shared by some people:

Renuka:

She found it a really different experience altogether.It is tough to live life without vision.

Public participants:

The experiment provided an opportunity to experience what blindness is and how they overcome obstacles at every step. It is really difficult to walk and society should come forward to make public places safe for visually impaired people.

Himanshu Thapliyal:

It is difficult for a visually impaired person to walk in this park as the facilities are not available

.

Vishal Rathi:

A completely new experience for him. He found it very difficult to walk a small stretch. He have never imagined, how life would be without vision and would be so challenging.

Arun Kumar:

This was a great opportunity to understand the challenging things that we don’t realize and sensitize their feelings. He was happy to experience such a unique activity.

Media coverage and participants sharing their experiences.

 The article in Hindustan Times: 

The article in theTimes of India:

A World within a world !!!

Harminder Soni

Before blind walk Harminder Sir was quite curious and excited about experiencing something new which he hasn’t heard of so far. He closed his eyes took a cane and walked in the crowded lane of Galleria. What he experienced after which was something he did not expect before the walk. After completing the walk he sat down in a chair, said every individual should try this out to understand the challenges and appreciate whatever we have got, as most of us still grumble for things we don’t get. He wanted his staffs in his office to also experience it and made them participated in the walk!!!

Alka Dixit

Her respect for people without vision had just doubled. She felt their spirit of not giving up and enduring the challenges they have to face every day, keep fighting against the odds and perform better than what we do is something that should be respected and encouraged. She was happy to experience such a unique activity!

 Surbhi Chauhan

One of our most enthusiastic participants was excited from the beginning to participate in the walk. She apart from participating in the walk wanted her friends to experience the same and called them up too. She said she was able to observe more with her eyes closed. She was more focused than she usually is.

           

Nanda Kumar

Nanda had never experienced something like this before. He had few things that struck him. I found it super difficult to walk a small stretch. I have never though, how life would be without vision. I have never imagined it before. This was a great opportunity to understand things we don’t realize. I would make my friends and family experience the same.

Ankit Anish

I have seen and worked with people without vision. I have always found them inspiring. The way they plan and execute their work and the amount of effort they put in is absolutely amazing that each one of us should learn. The blind walk just made me wonder why do we complain when we have everything. And why they never complain even when they have many challenges

Cauvery Jalan

She found it very difficult to even keep a single step. She knew she was slow and had a long distance to cover but her fear of falling was holding her behind. It made her understand how difficult life becomes when one can’t see. She felt it was wonderful experiencing something that was completely new and created a lasting import.

 Some photos taken during the event:

Videos of the experience of the SOIL team of 2015 as volunteers of Esha

On the last day of SIP, we requested the team to share their experience of being Esha Volunteers - on camera. Since I wanted it to be real, we gave them about 15 minutes to prepare what they are going to say. No rehearsals, no script - just speak from the heart.

Last night, we uploaded those videos to the Youtube channel of Esha. We encourage you to see these videos to know what it is like to volunteer for Esha.

Vrishin Bhamri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-SHeVjtOoc

Amit Dhalwale : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziqKDdyNwW8

Pooja Singh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFpST1Ee_0U

And the winner of the award for HR Leadership Program, and one of our star volunteers: Karen D Souza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEdLMUIbbic

Do see all of Esha's videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/eshabraille/videos
 

Raju Koli winner of karamaveer purasukaar

Today I am feeling very glad after getting this Karamaveer
Puraskaar. I want to thank Nidhi Mam,Jerry Sir And his Team for giving
me this opportunity.
     I want to share some moments while I was taking this award,When I
was attending Karamaveer puraskaar ceremony I listened to every
Kamaraveer Puraskaar Awardee who worked in different different fields
like some worked for child labour,agriculture,education for special
needs students,education for children living in slums etc. I salute to
everyone,I also thank to everyone who are taking the work forward for
their field.
    I was thinking about their lives which is very challanging.At last
I want to say that everyone is god gifted so we should help everyone
who are helpless and make their life better.
                                  "Sach hum nahi,Sach tum nahi
                                   Sach hain mehaz sangharsh hi"

Feedback from Dr. Sunita Chugh on braille cards for her..

Thank you for writing my name in braille on my printed visiting cards. it is such a good idea. I just can't thank you enough.
As an human resource consultant one of my struggles has always been about how to tune myself sensitively into people and without disturbing them.
I experienced a clean shift after printing my new cards through you. Now when present my card ;  a few people have directly asked me, is this braille ? and then their voice softens. Their eyes gleam . And I live a new hope ; that I will be understood by them sensitively , naturally and easily.
Our conversation flows invariably more smoothly after a braille card is received by my prospective clients!
Many cheers for this wonderful visionary work and initiative. 

Blind School Visit - Rosemary Bhokta

Rosemary with the students of The Sri Ram School at the Junta Rehab Center

 

Inspiration comes in many ways and its fascinating when it comes through people who are less fortunate than us, yet, their strive to live and live as a winner is what makes all the difference. Today, through Esha we got a chance to visit the Junta Blind School. It was a heart touching experience for me. All I could do is wonder and wonder how this blind people, in spite of not having the gift of eyes fight the odds and try hard to make an independent living for themselves. The initiative Esha and Junta School is taking to make them self sufficient and employed is something to be highly appreciated.

In the Junta School we saw how the blind boys, learn to read and write through Braille, How they learn extracurricular activities like singing, computer and chair making. The teachers in the school where themselves blind and where degree holders from universities. They are actually doing a great job preparing this blind people for competitive exams and also ready for employment in industries or start their own ventures.

This initiative on part of Esha to incubate us in our SIP (Social Innovation Program) by sending us to the blind school was really successful as it inspired us a lot to understand the mission and vision of Esha. The compassion with which Esha works for this people is what we also share now and that will make us better motivated to work for the organisation henceforth.

First Blind School Visit - by Sabrish Munendaran

“To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable. - John Milton”

When I visited the blind school along with 40 odd children from The Sri Ram School, I had a plethora of thoughts going in my mind as to what to expect from this visit. This was my first active program as part of my Social Innovative Program and it was an inspirational experience.  Despite being at a disadvantage of knowing what they were deprived of, there were smiles, happiness and hope in each and every visually challenged student who was present. Be it the weaving of chairs using wires, playing harmonium and tabla to produce some pleasant music to the ears or the computer lab where I discovered a new innovative way to operate a computer, each and every moment I spent there was inspirational. While I was caught in the moment, I also looked at the faces of students from The Sri Ram school, curiosity filled expressions was seen across the room. I was sure that for many of us it was the first time we were experiencing something extraordinary like this.  We also managed to have a look at how Braille writing was done and I was surprised with the supreme level of precision the visually challenged people showed while making Braille content.

What lesson am I going to take from this visit? The lesson called Hope. There’s dialogue from a very famous movie called The Shawshank Redemption that goes like this “ Hope is a good thing, it is one of the best of things and no good thing ever dies” . What I saw there in the 3 hours I spent was Hope in action. We may be deprived of many things in life but there is always a reason for us to hope. And we should respect and acknowledge the things we have in a positive way and live our life to the fullest.



Thats the group before they left for the visit - L-R - Sahil, Rosemary and Sabrish
 

Feedback: The Sri Ram School Theater Workshop

On 6^th March, 2013, Raju from Esha took a workshop. It was very impactful. Children were very thankful to Raju Bhaiya for taking then on a journey with no eyes. It was conducted to sensitise the children towards visual impairment and after the workshop we all felt that without this workshop we could not have created the same impact.

Copal Partners - Theater Workshop Feedback - Final episode

Sanyam
The experience at workshop was great. Even more important was to learn how difficult it is to live life with some incapability and our trainer “raju” made us understand that very well. Salute to him that he was achieved so much like medals and degree. He is really a role model for those who have difficulty. Loved the workshop.
Thanks

 Sonal Mehrotra

The workshop that was conducted made me realise how privileged I am with the gift of vision. There are so many people outside who are not so lucky. So I feel all of us should spare out some time from our busy schedules to help them and make their lives a little better. I would be more than happy to give my support to Drishti , in any possible way, in future as well.

Preeti Jain

It was really great experience attending this workshop. The difficulties which blind ppl face is just not comparable with any of us. Just in these 3 hour being part of workshop is just lived their life and it  was a great experience. Thanks to all.

Ranjeet R Pillai

It was quite an enriching experience. After today’s workshop I have even more realised the importance of our human organs, and how it feels to be deprived of even one of them. I really salute the people who are managing their lives in spite of their loss.

Have also decided to pledge my eyes. Looking forward to be more useful to society.

Rajesh

The experience that I feel through participating in this workshop is like how much difficult one should have without his eyes. It was so inspiring. I am speechless.

Lovelita Joseph

Through the workshop that we did I cant to experience how difficult it is for people who do not have sight. Though we see and notice people around us who are visually challenged but through this session which took hardly 5-10 minutes we could not do it without any prop etc. life is too difficult for them in reality whereas we sometimes feel that we lack so much. I really appreciate Drishti for the work that they are doing and I  have been blessed through this workshop. I really wish that we could actually support such people.

Ramanjeet Singh

Raju, you really taught me how well someone with a major disability can manage life and not for once crib about the fact that he does not have something.

Wonderful experience and very enlightening as well. It has encouraged me to think more.

Keep up the good work.

More feedback from Copal Partners workshop

this is belated.. but i just got around to typing all this out.. once again, thank you ppl, for the awesome feedback!

Sonam Chopra

Life is much more than just living it.. we do not realise how much gifted we are.

Raju is an apt example of “spirited” success , it’s the spirit, - the undying, persistent, never give up spirit that is necessary pre requisite for achievement.

It was awesome experience , eyes closed for five minutes made me relaise the “gift” I have been blessed with. Thank you so much.. thanks!

Keep up the good work – all the best!

Parul Dhir
Very good experience. Learnt so much; didn’t know how easily a small 3 hour workshop can bring so much appreciation for life, vision and just living.

Amazing trainer, kudos to him and his independence and zest of making it big in life. Best of luck to him and wish him all success in life.

Navket Verma

Just want to say THANKS A LOT RAJU for such a wonderful workshop. Really learnt a lot from such an amazing trainer. Raju has really impressed me with his achievements. Really don’t understand how he manages his time. .need to learn from him regarding TIME management.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!