Summary: Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Mental Retardation are no cause for not having fun, performing plays and shows. This album contains click able pictures to prove that at the UDAAN center, our handicapped kids can interact on equal terms with a normal kids to put up the shows and ballets.

Children with CP, Autism and MR enjoy themselves

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Click here to see Rishi singing on stage during our 1996 annual function. Rishi is a severe mentally handicapped child, the result of an infantile accidental head injury, in which his hearing centers escaped. He remembers and sings in perfect tune and rhythm, a large number of old songs, including the instrumental music in-between the paragraphs. Here he is on stage, helped by Ms. Shubhra (Founder Trustee of FSMHP and Principal of UDAAN} and his own younger brother, as he sings an all-time favourite song of Late Hemant Kumar, the singing legend of Bengal.
Click here to see a scene from the ballet on the Indian epic Ramayan.

Vashistha, the venerable sage and teacher (Rajnarain, on the wheel chair, a case of Arthrogyrosis multiplexa congenita) instructs Prince Bharat (Manish, CP) the art of archery.
UDAAN: 1995, playing host and training center to two postgraduate students from the US, Amber and Josie, along with Ms. Shubhra on extreme right, and some of our early students.
Rehabilitation through painting: Kids at UDAAN are taught to paint with bright colours on large sheets of paper, from which areas with attractive designs are cut out to make Greeting cards. This gives the kids a sense of achievement as well as helping them exercise their limbs and fingers.
In 1997, we selected twelve cards that represented the mood of the different seasons of the year, and made a 12 page desk calendar: a very much sought after object. Click here to see samples. Some designs were made into very attractive Greeting cards, which enjoyed very brisk sales at our sales counter.
Like understands and loves like. Here we can see Anuja (CP) sitting on the lap of Nupur (CP) enjoying a private joke among themselves. Anuja, the younger of two twins, developed CP as a result of accidental strangulation by umbilical chord during delivery, while her older twin sister was born normal. She is the most spirited among all our kids, and never refuses a challenge, and often wins it too. Nupur, a severe CP is mentally normal and very fun-loving.
You, too, can build similar friendships.
Fancy dress party on stage and at the center
  1. Sonal (CP) as the Lotus pond, Anuja (CP) as the wily fox and Anish (severe CP) as the great banyan tree meeting place of animals, as they participate in the stage show of The Lion and the clever Rabbit
  2. Anuja (CP) at the Fancy Dress Competition (which she won hands down) dressed as a sweeper. She is seen here cleaning the stage faultlessly despite her severely spastic limbs
  3. Rupangi (CP) and Nupur (CP) dressed as dancer girl and butterfly, respectively, in the same Fancy Dress Competition
3 more scenes from our
Fancy dress party on stage and at the center
  1. Rajnarain (Arthrogyrosis multiplexa congenita) dresses as the hero of the popular Indian film "Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (= Raju becomes a gentleman) and wins great applause from the audience.
  2. Anish (CP) as the priest and Jatti (CP) as an old Sikh gentleman, await their turn to appear on stage during the show
  3. Jagdish, our first and most faithful helper guiding Nupur (CP) onto stage. Jagdish has an uncanny knack of communication with handicapped children and can make them excel in whatever they try.
Scenes from the Ramayan Ballet
All our 10 CP, 5 MR, 1 Autistic, 1 Arthrogyrosis and 1 Deaf and Dumb child got together to present a two hour non-stop dance drama (ballet) on the Indian Epic, Ramayana, along with some of their normal brothers, sisters, friends and a few staff of UDAAN. The show was a grand success. It was inaugurated by the First lady of Delhi, the wife of the Lt. Governor. Its video is one of our most prized possessions.
Click here for some more scenes from the ballet

Finally, me and my family

My wife, Shubhra, is the very heart and soul of FSMHP and UDAAN
UDAAN is a Hindi language word that means Flight. It symbolises the flight of the spirit from the confines of disabilities: a trait that we try to inculcate in these children..
It is because of her unusual love for children, irrespective of their looks, caste, creed, religion, background and economic status, that this center came into being. She also has no feeling of disgust even when handling soiled clothes and other such matter that even I as a doctor find hard to handle. That is why she could handle and love CP cases so much as to dedicate her life to their happiness.
We could not have sustained this effort had it not been for the whole hearted help and co-operation extended by our two daughters, Dhriti (on the left) and Aparajita (holding on to our doggie, Ina: a favourite playmate of many of our kids.). As of today, Dhriti has completed her graduation with Psychology (Hons.) and done her B.Ed. in Special Education (Disabled Children) and formally worked at our center as a dedicated Special Educator till she got married and moved away from Delhi. Indeed, I can say that FSMHP is a Mukherjee family mission, started not out of any religious or pious feeling but just because it was great fun, which it still continues to be.
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