Specially abled makes a grand appearance at Yuva Dasara

When most people born like him curse their fate for being ‘abnormal’, this youth however is beatific, enjoying every bit of his world.

Also, through sheer grit and determination, he has honed himself as a self-made dancer, which these days is giving professionals a run for their money.

Aalok Jain, now 25, is 3.2 feet tall and was born disabled with only left hand and stunted legs. This however hasn’t deterred him from evolving as an artist. On Monday, he got a platform to showcase his talent at Yuva Dasara.

For nearly 20 minutes, Aalok kept the audience engaged, dancing to a medley of English, Kannada and Hindi songs. What set the mood was Aalok’s performance to the Kannada hit number ‘Jinke marina...’, a chart buster from Yogeesh starrer ‘Nanda loves Nandita’.

Aalok, a native of Mysore, is a BSc graduate in Computer Science. He is into event management, organising weddings and parties with his like-minded friends. Like every other specially-abled youth, he too had to endure a few difficult times, until he got an admission at Rotary School on KRS road. It gave him a chance to mix with normal students, which helped him become what he has today, he says.

As a child, he was attracted towards music and started choreographing to the tunes himself. It prompted him to look for a dance teacher to fine tune his skills in Mysore and in Bangalore, but all he could get was cold response for being an ‘abnormal child’. Unfazed, Aalok began to draw inspiration from dancers on TV, films and youtube.

His first stage performance was when he was an SSLC student. It was the annual day of the school and Aalok danced to a medley of hit numbers to the applause of the gathering. From there on Aalok never looked back.

Be it bigger events like Jayciana, annual fest of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), techNIEks annual meet of National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Vidyuth of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE) or any other parties, Aalok is alsways there. He is also regular in fashion shows. An avid fan of Prabhudeva, Aalok says that he owes his achievements to his parents Ramesh Kumar Jain and  Sadhana Jain and elder brother Rahul Jain.