Brittle bones, strong dream: Goa... here comes Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta

Panaji: Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta, a twenty-five year old graphic designer from Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, will visit Goa for the first time later this month on a fully paid wheelchair-accessible holiday.
Diagnosed with the rare Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as ‘brittle bone’ disease, Dasgupta has suffered more than 50 fractures and is highly dependent on his motorized wheelchair to move around.Goa has been on his dream list of places to visit, but the lack of accessible arrangements for wheelchair users hasn’t allowed him this visit until now.
He won the ‘Wheelchair Wanderlust’ competition offered by UMOJA, the online travel portal for persons with disabilities where participants were asked to write about their dreams of being able to travel.
Confined to his room from 2009 till 2015 when his health began deteriorating, Dasgupta is excited about this first big journey out of his home. He hasn’t even been able to visit his home town of Siliguri in West Bengal because of lack of accessible travel options available to him.
Train journeys don’t permit him to enter with his wheelchair, similarly air-plane journeys are off limits as his condition doesn’t permit him to be lifted onto an airplane seat.
“Wheelchair users should be allowed the option to sit on their own wheelchairs,” he says. He will be driven down to Goa in a wheelchair, along with his family, in an accessible-friendly car and stay at a hotel in the capital city.
This graphic designer believes nature is his best creative teacher and this is another reason he is looking forward to the trip to Goa. His hands don’t reach the keyboard but he uses his two fingers to operate a mouse which he uses to type on a virtual on-screen keyboard.
“I have broken all the walls of obstacles and soared outward on wings of faith and self-confidence. Although I’m unable to do regular work, I have taught myself to do things that others are unable to do,” he says.
In 1999-2000, Dasgupta who is also a singer and composer, won the Dishari award for best child singer of West Bengal. He recently released a book ‘My Life, My Love, My Dear Swami’ which has been translated into a number of Indian languages. “I have gone through suffering but I believe that you can fly high, travel on the wings of self-confidence and courage if you choose to be happy. Life is full of challenges but joy is also there to help us face them courageously,” he told STOI.
Cofounder and CEO of UMOJA, Yeshwant Holkar, says he organized the competition after he came across many wheelchair users across the country who found accessible travel to be almost impossible.
“While it is true that much of India is inaccessible there are pockets of accessibility. ‘Wheelchair Wanderlust’ is about breaking down the mental barriers that people have about the possibility of wheelchair accessible travel in India. They can also share stories of their trips with the world and show that accessible travel in India is not impossible,” Holkar said.