Madurai :

They might need others’ help to walk, read and write. But they do not need anyone’s help to dance. More than 200 blind students from various schools from the country took part in a dance competition organized in the temple city on Saturday.

Witnessing the scintillating performance by the students, the astonished spectators doubted if the performers are indeed blind. Viewers, who had come to the programme expecting an ordinary performance, were shocked by the stunning performance.

Right from folk, classical and western, the students did not leave any genres untouched. It was a feast for the eyes for the hundreds of people assembled at the Lakshmi Sundaram Hall in Tallakulam. “Lack of vision has never been a problem for the students as they have excellent memory power. It just took 20 days for them to get accustomed to any genre,” claimed Radha Ramakrishnan, a volunteer who accompanied a group of girls from the Rehabilitation Centre for Blind Women in Trichy.

The students displayed real magic on the stage. Some learnt to balance ‘karagam’, an ornate vessel placed on the head, in just 20 days. “We started with just balancing the ‘karagam’. Later we added the ‘karagattam’ steps. It was not very difficult. We have already won medals in three national dance events for blind. Hope, we would succeed in this event too,” said V Deivanai, a native of Pudukkottai district, who along with team members, took part in three events.

As many as 17 schools and institutions from various parts of the country participated. It was organised by Amway Opportunity Foundation, a corporate social responsibility wing of Amway, along with Indian Association for the Blind, Madurai. This was fourth edition of the event. The previous ones were held in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by V. Decanathan, TNN / December 01st, 2013