Rakum School for the Blind, Indiranagar

Rakum School for the Blind, Indiranagar

Sri Rakum School for The Blind was opened in June 1998, India. The School was founded for children who are born blind or visually impaired. Coming from families living below the poverty line, these children are shunned, denied a childhood and the opportunities to grow into normal adults. Children from distant villages and tribal regions come to Rakum where they are welcome with open arms.

Our first interaction at the Rakum School was with Mrs. Vasantha, who is second in command for the Indiranagar school after Sri Achraya Rakum himself. She teaches English to the students preparing for IAS and it was here where I met Mahendra, Vivek and Bhavya. All three have completed their Masters in English and Sociology.

The first session that we had was when they had an English class. This was the first time when I saw how visually impaired write; it was an A4 size mould that has two panels connected at one vertical end. They represent the braille mould, and a stylus which is a sharpened pin which is attached to a small handle which it can be held from. One hand used to feel the mould and the other holding the stylus to write.

My mind was drawn to the sheer speed with which all three could write and even keep up with the Mrs. Vasantha; she wasn’t making things easy for them. This strict disciplined schedule that is followed is made and abide by is for preparing them for the life they wait to face outside Rakum.

I kept thinking if our presence in that class was bothering them, but felt that do they feel comfortable in that void, do they not become anxious in the presence of someone else, especially someone whom they don’t know. This question for now remains unanswered.

Their method of writing reminded me of sewing machines and how they were embroidering their words on to the used newspaper which was converted into notebooks. It was astounding to learn that they write from right to left and read from left to write, what amazed me was effortlessly they could accomplish this. Their writing technique seemed effective but tedious; I was wondering if there could be some other method through which they could write. Due to lack of technology at the school any book that had to be converted to Braille was done manually through a Braille Typewriter; thus taking almost a month to translate short stories into Braille format.

After the class was over we headed out to see the rest of the school, where I met the blind teacher, who was talking about colour to students, the whole scenario was ironic, I felt pain growing in my heart and yet I was filled with a sense of admiration and respect towards him. It was amazing to see how one could not only overcome ones shortcoming but also help those who could benefit from his capacity to teach.

At the end of the day we witnessed one of the most interesting classes that are conducted at Rakum School, Mathematics. It never occurred to me that how the blind would negotiate themselves around complicated formulas and polynomial equations. To my surprise all the calculations were done in mere seconds in their minds, not only this they even answered the steps they went through to get to the answer.

What grabbed my attention the most was how the perception of sound and touch with the hands make a difference. The teacher was not only listening to the students reciting the spelling but was monitoring the class as well. The use of hands to read and also coordinate writing, helped the students document but refer to what they had written.

My two days at Rakum School have given me a lot of insight into how the visually impaired sense the world around them and how these insights can be incorporated in the creation of an art installation.