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israna

israna , delhi

A frontal shot of Israna (18). She has closely cropped straight black hair, and wears a pista green T-shirt and chocolate brown track pants. She is about to step out of a large, open window. Her right leg is behind the window and left leg bent at the knee is resting on top of the window sill. She has raised both hands to grasp either side of the window frame. The two window shutters with glass panes are kept wide open. Colourful murals have been painted on the wall. There are childish drawings of two girls, one wearing a red frock and the other a pink frock. There is a drawing of a row of upright colour pencils in red, yellow, purple, grey and orange. The pencils have three orange horizontal bands running across them, so that the whole image looks like a fence.
A side shot of Israna in a pista green T-shirt, standing and looking out of a door. She has been photographed in profile, from the waist up. Sunlight is falling on her face and chest. Her hands are raised, holding open the brown wooden shutters of the door.
Israna is combing her hair while sitting on a wooden stool placed in a narrow corridor with sky blue walls. She wears a cream kameez and orange salwar, and orange slippers with light green straps. The three-fourth sleeve of the kameez is trimmed with an orange band, and the front of her kameez has an orange panel. She is looking into a hand mirror with an orange back, and holding a yellow comb against the top of her head.
Israna wearing a pink T-shirt and black shorts is stretched out on the lower level of a bunk-bed. The metal frame of the bed is painted black. She is lying on her stomach and writing something in a book with a green pen. There are two bunk-beds on either side perpendicular to her bed. Her mattress is covered with a bedspread in a pattern of orange, black and white squares.
Israna wearing a yellow T-shirt and knee-high black pants is sitting on a divan next to her Sign language interpreter Shuchi Dasmana (42) who wears a salwar-kameez in a pink and maroon print. A huge painting hangs on the wall behind them. It shows a stylised bust of a woman wearing a green salwar, bangles, golden forehead jewellery (maang tikka) and a red dupatta covering her head. To the left, arranged in a vertical row on the wall are several slogans such as “Be Helpful”, “Respect one another”, “Show compassion” and “Laugh out loud” handwritten in block letters.
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“I dream of getting a nice job, earning well”

Israna (18) likes to imitate Bollywood dance numbers she has seen on TV. Although she is deaf in the left ear and has partial hearing in the right, she gets the dance beats by watching how ‘didi’ (sister) Shuchi Dasmana claps to the song. Her wiry body imitates the jerks, leaps and twirls of Radhika Madan moving to the song “Nachan Nu Jee Karda” from the film “English Medium”, and her best friend Shabnam cheers from the sidelines.
 
“I don’t even have a home” she said through her interpreter Shuchi when asked about her origins. Shuchi is the coordinator of the only home that Israna claims as her own – the Udaan Rose Home for Girls of the Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) in New Delhi. Three years ago she was found by the police wandering near the interstate bus terminal in Wazirabad, Gurugram, and they brought her to SBT on 1 January 2018. She was able to write her name, Israna, and that of her father, Paale, but imparted no other information except her date of birth. Later, through mime, Israna appeared to indicate that she had experienced some sort of domestic violence and was reluctant to go back to wherever she came from.
 
“I don’t remember” is the answer she gave us when we asked about her family, and she said “the bus driver” when we asked who took her to the Wazirabad bus terminal. “I left home alone, silently, at 5 o’clock in the morning,” she added. She had apparently got into a bus that happened to be going towards Delhi. She said she had studied till first standard but couldn’t remember the name of the school. It seemed as if she wanted to shove the past behind her.
 
Israna is not yet proficient in Indian Sign Language (ISL). In mid-2018 SBT enrolled her in Noida Deaf Society but her lessons were interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. School reopened in April 2021 but was shut in May. SBT has applied for a disability certificate so that she can avail of government benefits and also enrol in open schooling. “She is sharp, and a keen observer,” says Shuchi.
 
Since her deaf school is closed, Israna spends her time watching TV and laughing at the comic scenes, or using headphones to listen to songs. Any other hobby? “Eating!” she says. She has no particular favourites: “I like eating everything.” Since she has a sturdy physique, SBT has sent applications to various places on her behalf for housekeeping jobs. However, once she gains full command of ISL, once her education begins in earnest, there is no telling how far she might go.
 
Israna’s story isn’t over yet….


Photos:

Vicky Roy

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