A small rented room located on the first floor of a rundown building in Amargarh, Sopore, is among a few places where Farooq Ahmad Dar, 40, and other physically disabled people like him feel at home.
This is where they can freely talk to each other, joke around, share their problems, find solutions, and be themselves, without being judged or looked down by the society.
This room serves as office for Jammu and Kashmir Handicapped Attehad Welfare Association (JKHAWA). Started in 2009, JKAWA has over 300 members registered with them from across Baramulla district. This room is their small universe.
Every day Farooq, a resident of Hudipora village, parks his tricycle outside the building and climbs a narrow and dark staircase, using a long stick to balance his body. It is a painful process but he has no other option. He knows an office for handicapped persons should not be at the first floor. But he blames lack of support from the government for this irony. “It is not easy for people like us,” he said pointing at his lifeless legs.
At the age of three Farooq had a fall from the second-floor window of his house; since then he cannot move his legs. His struggle started almost immediately.
Born to a poor farmer father and housewife mother, cost of the treatment drained his family financially. Despite that Farooq was enrolled in a local government school. However, he quit his studies in tenth class. “It was painful as well as humiliating to drag my body all the way to school located two kilometres away,” said Farooq.
After idling a few days at home Farooq decided to learn how to weave carpets so that he could earn on his own. He contacted a local carpet weaver, who owned a loom, and requested him for help. “He was discouraging as he sent me home saying it requires lots of efforts to weave a carpet, which a handicapped person like me cannot do,” recalls Farooq.
Denne historien er fra December 22-28, 2019-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 22-28, 2019-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
