What is your relationship with sound? What sounds make you happy, afraid or sad? Sounds can be a trigger for a story. That was how Priya Sen began. I was at a Digital Story Telling Workshop for the blind, with visually-challenged students from various Mumbai colleges participating at the session.
Nupur Joshi (L) and Nikita Sonawane at the Digital Story Telling Workshop for the Blind. PIC/Meenakshi Shedde
What is your relationship with sound? What sounds make you happy, afraid or sad? Sounds can be a trigger for a story. That was how Priya Sen began. I was at a Digital Story Telling Workshop for the blind, with visually-challenged students from various Mumbai colleges participating at the session.
The sounds that made them happy, afraid or sad, were a revelation. For Nidhi Goyal, happy sounds included, “diyas bursting into flame, barish mein talne ki awaz (something frying when it's raining outside), and the beep of the microwave, indicating that a process is finished.”
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Nupur Joshi (L) and Nikita Sonawane at the Digital Story Telling Workshop for the Blind. PIC/Meenakshi Shedde
For Azharuddin Shaikh, sounds that made him afraid included “the sound of silence in a recording studio, that dark sound from which nothing comes, kyunki khamoshi bhi ek awaz hai (because silence is also a sound).” Goyal added, “I travel the world alone, but I get very scared when dogs bark. As soon as dogs see my white cane, they attack me.” Sounds that made them sad? Deepak Jaiswal said, “Once I asked my friend’s dad how he was. He laughed. But, it was a laugh that concealed his sadness, and it made me very sad.” Shubham Rane added, “TV news of the screaming of a woman or child who has been molested, makes me very sad and angry.”
The workshop had been organised by Point of View and the Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), headed by the blind and indomitable Dr Sam Taraporevala.
Sen, an artist, editor and sound designer, conducted the workshop, assisted by the lively and inspiring Nidhi Goyal, a blind gender and disability rights activist. Goyal does her own stand-up comedy show on disability, and cheerfully travels the world on her own — London, Geneva, and now Salvador. I’ve been working with the blind for over 15 years, and was attending both, to assist at the workshop, and as a participant. Disclaimer: I’m on the board of Point of View, a non-profit headed by Bishakha Datta, that amplifies the voices of women, and we are currently doing a range of work on disability, including this workshop.
Slowly, the blind were guided to write their own stories, record their narratives and soundscapes on audio recorders, and edit them with sound editors. Jayesh Panchal spoke of the first time he disregarded the concerns and taunts of his parents, and took a train to a computer class, all by himself. “Now, I can roam the whole world alone, and experience everything,” he exclaimed, sparking a roar of applause. It came from the brotherhood of the blind, familiar with the taunts of their blindness being a burden to the family, and having gone through that rite of passage, on the road to becoming independent. Nupur Joshi and Nikita Sonawane did a story about the daily terror of crossing the road. Ignored by a passer-by when she asked for help to cross the road, Joshi said, “Arre, we are not beggars, we just want help to cross the road!” Again, the ensuing applause that followed, indicated how close this is to the bone for the blind.
Many of the blind here were savvy with software and gadgets that help the blind cope like sighted people, including Mobile Talk Back, Voice Over, Talking Watch, iPhone Vocaliser Express and Job Access With Speech (JAWS) — a software that reads aloud all the text on a computer screen, allowing the blind to work nearly as efficiently as a sighted person. At the end of the workshop, I paused to take a fangirl selfie/usie with Nidhi Goyal. Though blind, she immediately sensed the exact spot my phone camera was held, and smiled warmly, making for a lovely picture.
Meenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshishedde@gmail.com.
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