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Closet Dreams!

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  ‘Wheee’, squealed Ishaani, as she raced by on her roller-skates , dashing across the sparsely furnished drawing room of her house, like a tornado that took pride in demolishing anything that came her way. She raced in frenzy towards the wall on which the television was mounted, and promptly placed her palms on the TV screen to bring her expedition to a stop, even as her mother, Divya, sighed in sheer exasperation. Whoever said that girls were made of sugar, spice and all things nice had ,clearly, not met the six year old Ishaani, a force of nature , who was made of thunder, lightning and all things chaotic! Ishaani began her day by creating a whirlpool of water and soap in the washroom. The allure of the fragrant, fun and incorrigibly messy world created by her would inevitably hold her captive, leaving her parents at their wits end, after the action filled endeavour to pack the apple of their eye off to school. School, in itself, was nothing short of an adventure, for there was...
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Har Ghar Chup Chaap Se Yeh Kehta Hai..

  ‘Har ghar chup chaap se yeh kehta hai, ki andhar usme  kaun rehta hai’, ! These legendary lines from an old advertisement crafted by a maverick ad man who recently passed on, was the first thing that came to mind when I went past the building that used to house the Montessori that I went to, till about seven years ago. One of the few surviving incredibly beautiful art deco structures with a lovely   garden and a park right across the street, I was dismayed to find the building being torn down. As with most old homes in that locality, the space will soon be replaced with a concrete and glass monstrosity; a building that would wipe away traces of the joyous moments spent in that house. While I have no stake in that space, the loss felt deeply personal to the little girl in me, who’d found a sense of belonging there .   If a time machine did truly exist, a trip to fifteen years ago would take you back to 2010, the year that the barely five year old me stepped into a...
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Gandhiji Lives Within Us

Yesterday was October 2nd, the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , better known as Mahatma Gandhi , the Father of our Nation. Gandhiji’s life was a testament to the power of leading with your heart, where truth, non violence and the philosophy of live and let live take the centre stage. Yet,  as I browsed the social media and read the day’s newspaper , what conspicuously stood out was minimum to no mention of the man who was instrumental in the creation of independent India. Maybe this alludes to the increasingly chaotic and polarised world we live in; but it also makes one ponder about the fact that his thoughts are probably more relevant than ever before. Gandhiji lived in an era that was turbulent, and marked by mind numbing violence; an era where geographical boundaries were re written and politics took the centre stage. Amidst all this chaos and mind-numbing violence, Gandhiji, the leader, stood steadfast and urged his followers to choose the path of peaceful res...
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Accessibility - Always an Afterthought !

  It was business as usual, for me, last Saturday, and as is my routine, I went for a morning walk, only to slip and have a bad fall, all thanks to the heavy rain and slippery walking path. I ended up bruising my right knee quite badly ; and along with the pain came the painful memories of another rainy day , a decade ago, when I fell while on a vacation to Coorg and ended up with a badly fractured tibial shaft that took seven weeks of keeping my leg immobile in a cast to heal- seven traumatic weeks during which I underwent multiple x-rays. The fact that I was able to get up and walk back home re-assured me that, thankfully , this fall did not end in a fracture . Yet, getting an x-ray done to rule out any major damage was imperative. Soon, I reached the same orthopaedic clinic where I was treated a decade ago, to get an x-ray of my knee. Nothing had changed in a decade, including the height of the bed that you had to climb on to for the x-ray. But this time around, I really though...
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Let's Talk! - with Elizabeth Bonker

Hey there readers! Do you wonder what it would be like, when two non speakers, armed with digital voices, sit down for a chat? Do we spill the tea about something interesting, or plan to meet IRL or just ideate about our vision to help the world understand us better? Well, wonder no more, for here I am, in a freewheeling chat with Elizabeth Bonker, the musical artist, who heads Communication 4 ALL , a non-profit that works in the space of promoting access to alternative mode of communication for non speaking autistics. Thank you Elizabeth, for taking time off your busy schedule, for this conversation  First of all, could you tell us one fun thing about yourself that no one knows about? Aditi, no one has ever asked me this question before, probably because I’m such a serious person. That reminds me of a story about fun that I’ve not told anyone about before. About 2 and a half years ago, I was watching TV with my family on a Sunday night and the phone rang. It was my mentor, Judy He...
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The Rama Within

  Have you ever wondered why Lord Rama is considered as an epitome of the ideal? Was it because he was picture perfect, without human follies? Or was it because he consciously chose to do what was right, his own conditioning notwithstanding? I would say it’s the latter, and here’s why: The story of Rama’s life is a testament to the fact that every living being is put on earth with a purpose; be that a squirrel, monkeys, eagle or two half brothers who were devoted to Rama’s mission in their own ways; Rama’s victory over Ravana would not have been possible without any of them. Humanity is diverse; and it is so with a purpose. Neurotypes like autism, ADHD and more are a normal part of human diversity - a diversity that has helped humanity evolve. Think Srinivasa Ramanujam, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates- all autistic people who have contributed significantly to life as we know it today! Did Rama ever understand the nature of Kaikeyi’s relationship with Dasharatha and why was she s...
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Can I hear your thoughts?

  It’s that season in autism land yet again when a theory that by no means provides any benefit to any autistic, but on the contrary paints the most marginalised of us as exotic psychics, is doing rounds; this time in the garb of a 14 episode podcast called The Telepathy Tapes. The theory postulating the existence of telepathy, or mind reading ability , in non speaking autistics is nothing new. This theory was first proposed by Diane Hennecy Powell, a neuropsychiatrist whose work on ESP and telepathic abilities that certain people with  autism and very high support needs possess can be best described as controversial. While there is very little to no scientific evidence to back this claim, with Dr Powell herself admitting that the population which is supposed to possess this extraordinary skill is also a group that is hard to conduct a study on, certain ‘ambitious’ stakeholders including parents, therapists and educators have continued to propagate that their autistic wards, t...
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