Sanjana would not have been able to cover the 60-km route of the car rally through the streets of Mysuru and its outskirts on Sunday had Kavitha, a visually-impaired woman, not shown her the way.
Though Sanjana was at the wheels, the route map of the rally was in Braille. Flagged off from Mahajana’s College grounds, the rally passed through several parts of the city before reaching Nanjangud and returning to Chamundi Hills and finishing at Hotel Radisson Blue.
The unique car rally for the visually-impaired was organised by the Mysore Amity Round Table (MART) 156 and was titled ‘Be My Sight’.
This unique rally saw a participation of 55 cars, each navigated by a visually-impaired person and driven by a person with vision.
Holding the Braille Tulip (route map), the navigators not only guided the drivers during the course of the rally, but also cautioned them on the speed limit for each road as specified in the map.
“This rally is not about speed. Participants may actually lose points if they cross the prescribed speed limit. The timing was recorded at eight time counters along the route”, Kiran Ranga, convenor of the event said.
The navigators were completely blind belonging to different institutions for the visually-impaired in the city. They cleared the Braille test and qualified for the event.
The purpose behind the event is to not only enable the visually-impaired persons ‘visualise’ the driving experience, but also instil in them a sense of pride and confidence, Mr. Ranga said.
The funds raised from the rally will be used to construct classrooms and toilet blocks for the underprivileged.
“We should be able to construct eight classrooms from the net proceeds of the event,” he said.
After completing the rally in about three hours and ten minutes,
Akshay, a participant, who drove the car, said he was blind as far as the route map was concerned as it was in Braille.
His navigator Vinod, a visually-impaired student of JSS Polytechnic for the Differently-abled, received appreciation for his flawless navigation.
After Kavitha and Sanjana reached the finish line, a thrilled Kavitha told reporters that it was great fun and that she had asked Sanjana to teach her driving by the time the next event is held.
Each car was navigated by a blind person and driven by a person with vision
