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    "result": {"pageContext":{"language":"en","pathURL":"prodeep-dowarah","isDefaultLanguage":true,"storyData":{"Name":"Prodeep Dowarah","Alt_Photos":null,"Alt_Text_Photo1":"Pradeep Dowarah (52) sits cross-legged on a bed with a red plastic footstool in front of him. He is bald with close-cropped hair ringing the back of his head. He has a pencil-thin moustache and his eyes are almost closed. He wears dark grey trousers and a sleeveless ivory-white sweater over a full-sleeved shirt in a plaid pattern of sky-blue and light grey checks. The wall behind the bed is dark sky blue. The bedsheet is printed in a swirling pattern of sky blue, white, and pale pink. There is a thick, rectangular, brown wooden board on the stool. The head of the board is fitted with a broad steel clip. There is a foolscap sheet clipped to the board and Prodeep has placed both hands on a tactile braille scale placed horizontally in the middle of the sheet. There are several white braille sheets on the bed.","Alt_Text_Photo2":"Prodeep, wearing charcoal-grey shorts and dark sky-blue half-sleeved knitted shirt, is thigh-deep in a tea garden. With both hands he is feeling the topmost leaves of a tea plant. The tea bushes have light green spear-shaped leaves. In the background there is a row of tall, areca palm trees with yellowish-green feathery fronds.","Alt_Text_Photo3":"Prodeep, wearing a salmon-pink half-sleeved knitted shirt and grey trousers, sits in a wooden armchair in front of a white-topped rectangular table. The wall behind him is turquoise blue. On the table there is a steel platter with a rim. The plate contains a small jar of white chunam (lime), a green betel leaf, and a few white shavings of areca nut (betel nut). Prodeep holds a white peeled areca nut in his left hand and with a betel nut cutter in his right hand he is slicing the nut.","Alt_Text_Photo4":"Prodeep, wearing his sky-blue shirt and grey shorts, sits in a room with a beige mud floor and light brown wooden walls. He is surrounded by blocks and sticks of brown wood. His knees jut out as he sits on two, low, rectangular black wooden platforms placed one on top of the other. With a machete in his right hand he is whittling a thick stick of wood he holds upright with his left hand.","Alt_Text_Photo5":"Prodeep is outdoors with his family. All of them are smiling. Sitting on maroon plastic chairs, from left to right: his wife Pronima (47), Prodeep, and his mother Suneshwari (81). In front of them there is a rectangular teakwood table covered with a white tablecloth. Prodeep’s son Manashjyoti (21) sits astride a red scooter to the right. The ground is made of pale beige soil packed firmly to form a level surface. Pronima wears the traditional two-piece mekhela-chador. The mekhela is worn like a skirt but is a piece of fabric wrapped around the waist and tucked in. The chador is another piece of fabric that covers the upper body. Pronima wears a turquoise-blue mekhela. Her chador is obscured by a maroon shawl wrapped around her shoulders and chest. Her hair is backcombed and tied in a knot with a large black hairclip. There is a white porcelain mug in front of her on the table. Prodeep wears his grey trousers paired with sleeveless white sweater over grey-and-blue checked shirt. He holds a white porcelain mug in his right hand. Suneshwari has backcombed white hair. Her saffron mekhala is almost obscured by a thin white cotton chador that covers her shoulders, chest, and lower body. She holds a white porcelain mug in both hands. Manashjyoti wears charcoal grey jeans and a blood-red windcheater that matches the colour of his scooter.","Alt_Text_Video":null,"Photo1_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Prodeep_Dowarah/_O2A3310.jpg","Photo2_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Prodeep_Dowarah/_O2A3370.jpg","Photo3_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Prodeep_Dowarah/_O2A3431.jpg","Photo4_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Prodeep_Dowarah/_O2A3385.jpg","Photo5_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Prodeep_Dowarah/_O2A3334.jpg","Name_English":"Prodeep Dowarah","Language":"en","Disability":["rec7wLjRz1nopX3Cz"],"Gender":"Male","Instagram_Content":"Prodeep Dowarah (52) from Dibrugarh, Assam did not know he had blindness until his parents told him so when he was around six years old! Born with 100 per cent loss of vision, he assumed other people were just like him. His parents and siblings treated him no differently and he was perfectly capable of managing his personal needs independently. He says experiencing the world through his four senses has always felt ‘normal’ to him. \n\nProdeep attended Moran Blind School where he learnt braille, home management, life skills and vocational skills. After completing Class 10 he joined Kanoi College where he finished 11th and 12th. He then moved to Dehradun to join the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped. He learnt Hindi braille to get a job as a proofreader but could not find employment. So he decided to go back home and look after the family’s tea farm. \n\nProdeep is married to Pronima (47), a sighted person. They have a son, Manashjyoti (21), who has just written his Class 12 exams and is awaiting the results. In 2023 Prodeep got a government job (Class D) in the education department through the quota for disabled people. Manashjyoti drops him to the office and picks him up on his scooter. Prodeep’s dream for his son is simple: a good education so he can get a good job and lead a good life. “It is very important for disabled persons to receive mobility training and support,” he says. “They must have their family’s support as well.”\n\nProdeep enjoys music, loves eating fish and chicken, and drinking tea. It is wrong to presume the Blind don’t know what colour means. Prodeep says, “From my understanding of colours, I feel I like the colour white.”","Quote":"“Disabled persons must receive mobility support, and also the support of their families”","Status":"Published","Video":null,"Website_Content":"Prodeep Dowarah from Dibrugarh, Assam did not know he had blindness until his parents told him so when he was around six years old! Prodeep, who was born with 100 per cent loss of vision, assumed other people were just like him. His parents and his elder brother and older sister treated him no differently and he was perfectly capable of managing his personal needs independently. Then, when he was old enough to start running about while playing with other kids in the neighbourhood, his parents had to explain to him what blindness meant.\n \nProdeep, who is 52 now, says experiencing the world through his four senses has always felt ‘normal’ to him. His father was the village chief and he was one of six children. When he was around eight or nine he was sent to Moran Blind School where he learnt braille. He was trained in home management, life skills such as cooking and cleaning, and vocational skills such as candle-making. “We saw many films and documentaries,” he recalls. “We did a lot of travelling too. And I learnt to play the tabla – I still play it sometimes.” After completing Class 10 he joined Kanoi College where he finished 11th and 12th.\n \nProdeep then moved to Dehradun to join the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped. He learnt Hindi braille to get a job as a proofreader but could not find employment. So he decided to go back home and look after his tea farm which covers nearly three acres. He says by touching the tops of tea bushes he can easily figure out which leaves are tender enough to be plucked. “I love drinking tea,” he adds, laughing. “I drink four to five cups a day.”\n \nBlindness did not prove to be a hindrance when it came to marriage – with Pronima, a sighted person. Prodeep’s younger sister got to know of Pronima through her aunt, and informed her father who got the proceedings underway. Pronima (47) tells us, “I was fated to get married to him. It’s been 23 years. I really like talking to him because he talks very nicely! We have never had major fights – only the usual small tiffs.” They have a son, Manashjyoti (21), who has just written his Class 12 exams and is awaiting the results.\n \nIn 2023 Prodeep passed a qualifying exam and got a government job (Class D) in the education department through the quota for disabled people. He was posted to an elementary school as the chowkidar (watchman). The school staff were sceptical when they knew a Blind person had been appointed. How would he find his way around the school? How would he perform manual tasks such as opening and closing classrooms? Would he be able to fulfil his daily personal needs such as eating lunch and going to the toilet? \n\nThey needn’t have worried. When he joined work, Pronima initially accompanied him and helped him get familiar with the environment and his assigned duties. Pretty soon his colleagues realised he could smoothly navigate the premises and do everything independently. All they needed to do was tell him where and when they had kept things for him to attend to. “Now they are very helpful,” says Prodeep. Manashjyoti drops him to the school on his scooter and picks him up after his own school hours are over.\n \nProdeep’s dream for his son is simple: “I want to give him a good education so he can get a good job and lead a good life.” He says it would be nice if all persons with disabilities and their families too would get the necessary assistance from the government or NGOs. “It is very important for disabled persons to be mobile; they should receive mobility training and support,” he says. “They must have their family’s support as well.”\n \nWe usually ask our EGS subjects about their favourites – food, hobbies, colours etc. Prodeep enjoys music, loves eating fish and chicken, and drinking tea of course. It is wrong to presume the Blind don’t know what colour means. Prodeep says, “From my understanding of colours, I feel I like the colour white.”\n","State_name":"Assam","Display_Order":255}}},
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