Looking at colours without eyes...

'Visionary' minds

For 11-year-old Manunayak, painting was a distant dream, an almost unthinkable task.

Having been sent out of the house by his aunt when his parents died four years ago, he was left with no choice but to live on the streets. That was until he was rescued by an NGO and taken care of. Recently, at “Nanhe Chitrakar,” a painting contest, he was able to put his artistic talent to good use.

Coming together

The painting competition was organised by the Amway Opportunity Foundation, where over 70 children from different social backgrounds came together to celebrate the world of colours at the Swami Vivekananda and Baiyappanahalli Metro stations on Sunday.

“I like painting but I am not sure what I will grow up to become,” said Nagarathna, a class VIII student.

Her congenital partial blindness has not impaired her sense of appreciation for colours. She painted a garden and a well in the contest, for which the theme was ‘Save water.
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‘Society lacks vision’

“It is extremely rare that underprivileged children can be involved in activities that can be termed hobbies,” said Naveen Lukkar, who was one of the judges.

“The problem with our society is that, they have sight, but lack vision. One painting by a child had depicted water inside a tree. Although all of us are aware that there can be no trees without water, few of us can actually think so uniquely. Passion needs support, not sympathy,” he added.

Students from various NGOs and schools for the blind took part in the event. “These children feel socially awkward and left out mostly because of their social backgrounds and drawbacks. But they are all very talented. They have sharp acumen that needs the right kind of encouragement to be honed,” said Jyoti, who teaches Kannada and craft at the Deepa Academy for the Blind.

“Visually impaired children cannot identify colours but have a vision for everything in life. We tell them what things look like and they decode it on paper,” she added.
Three prizes were awarded at the contest which was rife with zest and vigour.