My visit to the Art Exhibition of Ms. Sipra Das at Lalit Kala Academy’s Lal Baradari as the first workshop organized by our College has been a memorable experience. The exhibition titled, ‘Third Eye’ portrays the different aspects of the life of the so-called handicapped, ‘The Blind’. It is awesome to know that they have conquered every aspect of human life, which a hail and hearty human being, lives in.
I just could not put my eyes off from some of such life-revealing photographs of them. The ones which fascinated me to the depth of my heart were, ‘Marching Towards Hope’, ‘Smoky Vision’, ‘Domestic Devotion’, ‘Ready for the Long Haul’, ‘Height of Courage’, ‘Brave on Braille’, ‘Well of Confidence’, ‘Fishing for Faith’. The names go on. The photographs reflect that today the blind cannot be considered incompetent or incomplete. They can be seen climbing the mountain ranges and rocky hills. From taking care of their families and home to fishing, acting in theaters, from nursing to doing mathematical calculations and from playing cricket to laughing joyously among peers, they stand and walk hand-in-hand with the masses.
Then we met Ms. Sipra Das personally and learnt so much about her life. In our joint conversation with her we learnt that she belongs to Calcutta and ‘has married her Camera’. Her inspiration in life has been her Mother. She has lived with the blind as a member of their family in the various villages and towns of the country as Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Vardhara (Gujarat), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Patni Top (Jammu & Kashmir) for this project. It was a call from her heart that inspired her for ‘Third Eye’. She now plans to write a book on the same subject, in times to come. Ms. Sipra Das presently works for INDIA TODAY magazine and has been a bravo to work as a journalist in the Kargil War, Anantnag temple in Sri Nagar, IPKF withdrawal from Sri Lanka, and so on. Having seen her photographs and also having met her makes only one slogan come to my mind that,
‘Where there is a Will, There is a Way’.
I got two lessons from the visit to the exhibition. 1stly, that the Blind are no more the weaker section of the society. Because the blinds have made their minds achieve victory when their eyes have made them appear defeated. Secondly having met Ms. Sipra Das I believe, ‘Nothing is Impossible’ for humanity. It’s all a state of mind and I wish Ms. Sipra Das all the Luck!