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“I really enjoy cooking. I like watching movies and performing on stage”

When Simran Wadhwa (21) dances to the thumping beats of “Kala Chashma” her joy is so infectious you can’t help bopping along. “Chandigarh tho aaye ni” goes the third line of the song from the Hindi film “Baar baar dekho”. Simran ‘aayee’ (came) to Chandigarh from Delhi with her family when she was six months old after her father’s job transfer. By then, she had already gone through many medical tests that began when she was just a day old.
 
Ajay and Anita Wadhwa received a shock when their second child, born in Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Delhi, was diagnosed with Down Syndrome (DS) a month later. Their worries didn’t end there. She showed signs of the heart defects present in many babies with DS; in her case it was both ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) and VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect), meaning holes in the heart’s septum. Though keen to get her a surgery the parents followed the advice of doctors to wait and watch since the heart can sometimes heal naturally as a child grows.
 
Once the initial distress abated, the family decided to focus on what they could do to support her. They consulted top hospitals in Delhi which assured them that while DS can’t be reversed, therapy such as physiotherapy and speech therapy could help her develop and lead a fruitful life. She began walking at two-and-a-half, the age at which she started pre-school in Chandigarh. For the next four years, physiotherapy strengthened her legs and muscles. Anita, a dietician, quit her job to focus on her daughter.
 
At Euro Kids and later Saupin’s School, Simran was warmly accepted by her teachers and also her classmates who often helped her with small tasks such as assisting her to go to the toilet and waking her up if she happened to nod off in class. A teacher who frowned upon her occasional naps once suggested she move to a special school but Anita firmly addressed the matter with the principal. Simran continued her education with a resource room and a special syllabus, completing Grade 9. As higher grades became more demanding, she shifted to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), choosing practical subjects such as Home Science and Cooking, and passing Grade 10.
 
Anita remembers people staring at Simran when she took her to the park but she would deflect their attention and ensure her daughter was never affected. She built Simran’s independence step by step; by age four she was eating on her own. Today, she needs no help getting ready and actively participates in household chores, and even plans the family’s meals. Ajay drops her off and picks her up from a therapy centre, where she spends her day engaging in physiotherapy, computer work, cooking, painting, makeup lessons, and other fun activities. Her favourite days are when she has cooking class.
 
Anita believes Simran receives so much love because she gives so much of it in return. She can be stubborn and get quickly irritated but her adoring extended family has patiently embraced her little tantrums. She is deeply attached to her ‘bua’ – her father’s older sister Neelam – and she shares a strong bond with her brother Yuvraj (27). She loves sharing the day’s happenings in detail with Anita, who laughingly adds that Simran is especially close to Ajay who pampers her with rasagoolas and other sweet treats. Despite being allergic to wheat and gluten, Simran relishes kadi chawal, halwa, and besan ladoos, never forgetting to shower praise on her mother’s cooking.
 
Simran loves going shopping with her mother and watching TV serials with her. Movies starring Hrithik Roshan and Alia Bhatt are her favourites. When we spoke to her she was excitedly preparing for a performance on 13 August to celebrate Independence Day and was also eagerly anticipating playing Radha during the Janmashtami puja.
 
Anita has a simple message for society: stop discriminating against people with DS. Treat them with love, and they will blossom with confidence.