Several visually or hearing impaired children to experience the splendour of Durga Puja after surgery

27.09.2016
KOLKATA: Durga Puja is one of West Bengal's biggest festivals. Its pujas and processions create an arresting spectacle of colour and sound. This year, several children in the state will experience some of the festival's sensory riches for the first time - for they began to see or hear for the first time in their lives only very recently.

Take four-year old Rupasha, for example. Born blind, this young resident of Sonapur, South 24 Pargana, can now identify the pandal at Talpukur after undergoing a cornea transplant last July at Kolkata's Birla Aravind Eye Hospital. Her mother is overwhelmed. "My daughter will now witness the Goddess Durga," she says, her eyes full of tears.

There's also seven-year-old Swapnika (Or 'Mishti,' as her mother calls her) from Mahishadal, East Midnapore. She was born with prelingual hearing loss, but after receiving a cochlear transplant at SSKM hospital, she now wakes up at 4 AM to listen to the Mahalaya.

"Sometimes I can't believe that Mishti is responding to me, or calling me Mum-Mum," he mother says. She can't even express how she felt when her daughter first called her "mother," she adds.

Swapnika has none other than West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to thank for her new-found capacity for speech and hearing. After her family asked the CM for help, the West Bengal government's Health department referred her to Dr. Arunava Sengupta, who performed her surgery. And the government bore the cost of the procedure: Rs 10 lakh. Swapnika's family now want to meet Banerjee to express their gratitude for her government's help.

Swampnika and Rupasha aren't the only ones who'll be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of Durga Puja after receiving surgical treatment. Six-year old Arkodwip Saha from Bakura can now do that, after getting a cochlear transplant last May. Avinab - a Haryana native - has undergone the same procedure.

And Soumyajit Burman from Tamluk, and Debashish Roy from Behala have both received cornea transplants. They can now bear witness to the majesty of Durga Puja.

Both boys had been able to see from their left eyes, but their right eyes were damaged a few months ago. Soumyojit's right eye was pierced by a pin, and Debashish's got infected.