He was always fascinated by the way the visually challenged adapted to their disability and navigated their sightlessness. For Swagat Thorat, who is known as the Braille Man of India, introducing the visually challenged to popular Marathi and Hindi literature, including news reports, feature stories and opinion pieces by popular writers, was a challenge as he was sighted. By blindfolding himself for long periods to comprehend their world of darkness and trying to perform all the tasks that they did every day. Thorat got a better understanding of the dilemmas faced by the visually challenged.
It was in 1993 when Thorat first got involved with this community for a project, which proved to be the beginning of a long innings. It was a documentary about two schools for the visually challenged in Pune. The documentary, Kallokhatil Chandane (Stars in Darkness), was made for the Marathi radio channel Akashvani, based in Pune.
In 1997, when India turned 50, Thorat directed a play Swantantryachi Yashogatha (Glorious Story of India’s Independence) to mark the occasion, with 88 visually challenged people of all ages. The performance found mention in both the Guinness Book of World Records and the Limca Book of Records for the maximum number of visually challenged people in a play. He has also produced a live audio drama based on the biography of Helen Keller.
During his personal interactions, Thorat realised that in general, the visually challenged have a voracious appetite for reading, but are constrained by the lack of availability of literature in Braille. “Until I entered their world, I had no idea of their problems,” Thorat tells Outlook. “I interacted with them, learnt Braille and started writing for them. But I wanted to do something beyond that,” he says.
Thorat was raised in Chandrapur, a Naxal-affected district in eastern Maharashtra, and here his fascination with the visually challenged began at school. “I’d meet a group of visually challenged astrologers and speak with them every day about their experiences. It was challenging and fascinating.” Thorat would blindfold himself on occasions to understand the world of darkness. “We have five senses but when I blindfolded myself, I realised we don’t use most of them. I started relying on my other senses when I tried to move around blindfolded.”
It was during his travels and interactions that he realised that what his subjects wanted most was to read and understand all that they could not see. “Though there was radio and TV, the lack of reading material in Braille made them feel left out. Their imagination is vast. If they had access to the right reading material, their dreams could be realised.” For him, their interpretations of colour, size and shape were a revelation, something a sighted person like him would never have understood had he not blindfolded himself for long periods.
This led him to bring out a fortnightly magazine in Braille, titled, Sparshdnyan. It was born as a special Diwali issue in 1998. So popular was the first issue that many visually challenged people started writing to him, seeking more reading material. “On February 15, 2008, we reprinted 100 copies of the first issue of Sparshdnyan. India’s first magazine in Braille, as a fortnightly. Since then, the readership has grown,” says Thorat.
Over the years he has formed a team of sighted people who know Braille to help in the publication of Sparshdnyan. Emulating his example, many others have started learning Braille and have become regular contributors. Thorat has also managed to get permission to convert Marathi literary works into Braille. “This isn’t enough. They need much more.”
Thorat invested Rs 4 lakh to buy a Braille printer. He also took office space on lease in suburban Andheri. Most copies are gifted to schools for the visually challenged and NGOs working among the community across Maharashtra. Since his family helps him with the production, and journalist friends write for free, he has been able to keep overheads low.
He is also involved in publishing Reliance Drishti—India’s first Braille magazine in Hindi. He edits that along with Sparshdnyan. The team has a mix of sighted, partially visually challenged and completely visually impaired, helping the magazine get a better perspective of their world.
Thorat has also designed Braille stickers for all kinds of lifts. With people getting sensitised to the dilemmas faced by the visually challenged, demand for these stickers has gone up. According to Thorat, the idea behind the stickers or calendars in Braille is to make his subjects independent. “Simple tasks are difficult for them. This will help them be free and independent,” he says.
Thorat wears many hats. He is also a wildlife photographer, painter, playwright and director, in addition to being an editor. In the past, he had adapted P.L. Deshpande’s Teen Paishacha Tamasha, as well as another Marathi classic, Apoorva Meghdoot, into plays, and staged them with visually challenged artistes.
(This appeared in the print edition as "And Then There Was Light")
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