Birth centenary of Mrs Geeta Basu 16 December 2017

Relatives and friends of late Mrs Geeta Basu organized a get together followed by a Seminar on 16-12-2017 at Turiyananda Hall, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol mPark, Kolkata from 2 to 6PM.

Mrs Geeta Basu, wife of Dr A K Basu, a distinguished surgeon of Kolkata, initiated the process of approaching the Govt for a piece of land to set up an institution for the rehabilitation of the Blind. She had been a pioneering social worker with an advanced educational background and an exposure to Western Culture. In 1970 she motivated her friends & wellwishers and set up Welfare Society for the Blind, east of Majherhat Bridge, Kolkata. At that time the city of Kolkata had only three Blind schools and hardly any center for the training of the adult Blind.

Applying her innovative mind she opened various employable training programs and music programs for the Blind

Social Role Valorization Workshop Dec 05-08, 2017

Social Role Valorization Workshop Dec 05-08, 2017

This Workshop was hosted by the Keystone Institute of India & supported by The Hans Foundation, New Delhi at Hotel Piccadilly, Janakpuri (W), New Delhi.

Invited delegates from various parts of India participated.

Mrs Elizabeth Betsy Newville with the assistance of four other Resource Persons conducted this Workshop in a lecture mode followed by Group discussions.

The term "Devalue" came up as a vital issue in handling persons who are kept deprived, who are not able to fight for their own rights, remain left behind in the community. Majority of the participants spoke for persons with autism and mental illness as well as mental retardation.

Very sensitive terms such as "mindset" changing, "attitude" changing came up again and again.

How two Blind adults rescued an Engineer from Hyderabad in West Bengal 19-12-2017

2017: technology aiding persons with Disabilities to mainstream

Sadhan Gupta, former Advocate General, Govt of West Bengal, a pioneering Blind person as a legal expert, P_arliamentarian, political activist under the British rule and a compassionate friend of the Blind & Vision Impaired 2017

HMI-IMF-SVH Mountaineering for the Blind: the first organized training of its kind in the world completes 28 years 1989-2017

Today 01 November 2017 is a very special day for the Society for the Visually Handicapped (SVH), Kolkata as exactly 28 years ago, on 01 Nov 1989 the first batch of Blind & Vision Impaired youths from West Bengal and Maharashtra participated in the Special Basic Course on Mountaineering conducted by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling under the leadership of late Col Amit Roy and Nima Tashi Sir. Today looking back I find it was a time of deep turmoil, violence, agitation rocking the Darjeeling Hills. SVH organized this Course with grit and determination with support from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi. From 1989 to 2001 it was an annual course. Later there were interruptions and in 2017 we could conduct a short orientation program at HMI, Darjeeling.

Officials & volunteers of SVH remain ever so grateful to so many individuals and organizations for  spontaneous support to make this project a success! Many of our beloved members, well wishersm friends and donors are no more but they live afresh in our memories!

Society for the VH (SVH), Kolkata: Addition to Digital audio books Oct 2017: see Facebook "Braillebooksfor blindSvh"

Author	Title	Page no	Recordists
30-10-2017
Saroj Bandyopadhyay	Banla Upanyase Kalantar	391	Alaknanada Mitra
Udaykumar Chakraborty	Banla Sanbartani Byakaran	256	Suparna Mandal
Sankho Ghosh	Supuri Boner Sari	92	Swati Panja
Swami Prajanananda	Bharatiya Sangiter Itihas Vol 1	360	Sumana Nandi
Swami Prajanananda	Bharatiya Sangiter Itihas Vol 2	345	Mita Chatterjee
Asapurna Devi	Asapurna Devir Satabarshiki Samkalan	496	Sarbani Banerjee
Pratapranjan Hazra ed	Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay. Kamalakanter Daptar. (ref)	142	Krishnakali Das
Apurba Deb & Tapan Mandal eds	Nurjahan Phire Dekha.	256	Sumana Nandi

Harmonium as an empowerment tool: Society for the Visually Handicapped, Kolkata 26 October 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26 October 2017

Pankaj Sinha, a Visually Impaired PG student in the Dept of Music, Viva Bharati University, Santiniketan, appealed to SVH for audio books on his MMus syllabus. Pankaj took a courageous step. He did his undergraduation in Liberal Arts, possibly History obeying the wish of his family guardians. But his heart pined for music and hence at PG level he listened to his heart and got himself admitted in the Music Dept.

When I asked Pankaj whether he owns a harmonium he said he was in dire need of one but at the moment cannot buy one. I offered him to play one frequently used scale-changing harmonium of SVH, perfectly cared, loved and tuned. One of our old volunteers, of live reader service, Mrs Poonam Nand Dey of Kolkata, presently a Japanese language teacher, donated it to perpetuate the memory of her late mother-in-law, though the harmonium came in a tattered condition. My uncle Setar-artist late Netai Bose, sometime in 2003 or so, arranged for its re-life through a skilled harmonium mechanic. Since then so many vision impaired musicians, music teachers and students have played it from time to time delivering immense joy to many many listeners.

SVH decided to loan this instrument to Pankaj to enable him to continue his studies in Music till it is possible for him or us to find a sponsor for a scale-changing harmonium!

Yesterday SVH volunteer Debasish Paine escorted Pankaj with the harmonium to his hostel at the VB University, Santiniketan and we gave a reluctant bye to our friend Harmonium! Santiniketan Photos attached.

How a Blind astronomer Wanda Diaz Merced studies astrnomy by hearing stars 2017

https://www.ted.com/talks/wanda_diaz_merced_how_a_blind_astronomer_found_a_way_to_hear_the_stars?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tedspread--a

Wanda Diaz Merced studies the light emitted by gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic events in the universe. When she lost her sight and was left without a way to do her science, she had a revelatory insight: the light curves she could no longer see could be translated into sound. Through sonification, she regained mastery over her work, and now she's advocating for a more inclusive scientific community. "Science is for everyone," she says. "It has to be available to everyone, because we are all natural explorers."

https://www.ted.com/talks/wanda_diaz_merced_how_a_blind_astronomer_found_a_way_to_hear_the_stars?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tedspread--a

Facebook updates: 2017

 On 12 October 2017 our Society, Society for the Visually Handicapped (SVH), Kolkata, India, has opened this Facebook A/C for two major objects: i. to familiarize & update our beneficiaries, friends, wellwishers and donors about highlights of our progress with education empowerment of the Blind & Vision Impaired and ii. to update list of our Braille & digital talking books to generate the information fast among our beneficiaries and other users. First of all, our Society is extremely grateful to Facebook authorities for enabling us with a free of charge access to this social media for a charitable cause. Secondly, The Hans Foundation, New Delhi, who supported us considerably and generously for the last five years our Digital Talking Book production and computerized Braille book production for the last four years, have expressed their decision to phase out support. Since these two projects are the lifeline of our Society we are submitting an appeal to public to sponsor Braille & audio books for the Blind to promote Literacy for the Print-Disabled.
Humbly
Ms Hena Basu, Secretary
Society for the Visually Handicapped, Kolkata 12 October 2017..

 
New digital books ready for requisition:

Bengali
1. Banaphul. Paschatpat (autobiography). 301 pages
2. Minakshi Sinha. Rabindra Upanyas Charcha. 202 pages
3. Dineschandra Sen. Brihattara Banga. 2 Vols 1047pages
4. Nabanita Debsener Sreshtha Kabita. 191
5. Achintya Biswas ed. Badu Chandidaser Srikrishnakirtan Kabyakatha. 720pages
6. Arup Kumar Bioswas. Rome: Suchana theke Swarnaju. 319 pages
7. Amales Tripathi. Italir Renaissance Banalir Sanskriti. 134 pages
7. Puripriya Kundu ed. Krisna Baksi. Kirtan Ganer Itihas. 270p
8. Sankha Ghoser Sreshtha Kabita. 207 pages
9. P Maiti. Europer Itihaser Ruparekha. 352 pages
10. Gautam Bhadra. Mughal juge Krishi Arthaniti o Krishak Bidroha. 245 pages
11. Gora Singharoy ed. Jatindramohan Bagchir Sreshtha
Kabita. 152 pages
12. Sunil Gangopadhyayer Sreshtha Kabita. 232 pages
13. Arunkumar Mukhopadhyay. Unabinsa Satabdir Banla Gitikabya. 327 pages
14. Madhusudan Datter Brajangana Kabya. 16 pages
English
1. P K Mukherjee. Highlights of English. Class V. 72 pages
2. Nilkantha Sastri.K A. A History of South India from Prehistoric times to the fall of Vijaynagar. 4th ed. 506 pages
3. Upinder Singh. A History of Ancient & Medieval India: from the Stone Age to the 12th Century.. 704 pages

Blind swimmer Kanailal Chakraborty from Krishnagar, Nadia, West Bengal: an outstanding achiever

This is a video clip of Kanalal Chakraborty, a totally Blind person, on whom a documentary film was made by Supriyo Sen titled "Swimming through darkness". This documentary has an eleven minute clip in the internet. Kanai had his school education at Helen Keller Blind School, Krishnagar, Nadia. Struggling against poverty, family support, other help, Kanai decided to make a difference in life by pursuing swimming as a hobby against heavy odds. Kanai came to our library decades ago for education support in his HS studies. Later we lost track of him. In our Santipur Workshop on 7-8 September last Samrat Chakraborty, a free lance film maker spoke to me about Kanai and immediately I spoke to him over phone. This morning he arrived at our Library and here is video clip of his own statement.

Padmasri J L Kaul, founder of All India Confederation of the Blind, Delhi.. Reminiscences [an autobiography]. Just out August 2017 from Doaba Publications, Delhi.

It is published in Hindi & English. Contact 9810684208. Its a remarkable work, a history of pathbreaking service for Persons with Vision Impairment.  Hena Basu. 23 August 2017

Case study of Malabika Saha

SVH Education Empowerment for the Vision Impaired Projects supported by the Hans Foundation, New Delhi 2016-17

Discrmination to disabled persons in India and abroad