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raghav

raghav
wadhwa , punjab

Raghav Wadhwa (31) sits in his wheelchair outside the brown front door of his house, next to a cream cement spiral staircase with a steel balustrade. His wheelchair has grey cushions for the seat and back. He is clean-shaven and wears white jeans and a black knitted shirt with collar. The sun is shining on his face. The ground is paved with square tiles of alternating beige and brick red. There is a blue plastic circular basket at the foot of the steps and a row of potted plants to the left of it.
Raghav’s mother Ashi Wadhwa (52) pushes him in his wheelchair in a children’s park. Raghav wears dark glasses, white jeans and black knitted shirt. Ashi wears a royal blue churidhar and a turquoise blue and white kameez with embroidery down the front. The ground has zigzag paving stones in lengthwise bands of faded red, grey and yellow. On the lawn to the right there are slides and jungle gyms painted red, yellow and blue. To the left there are lush green plants and the overhanging branches of a tree.
Raghav lies flat on a bed on his chest, propping himself up on his elbows with his head raised. He wears blue jeans, a blood-red knitted shirt, and navy blue sneakers with white soles. He is looking into an open book in front of him on the bed. His right hand with palm facing upwards is placed on the right half of the book to keep it open. The bedsheet has a pattern in light pastel shades of purple, pink and blue.
Raghav and his mother are in the kitchen. The L-shaped platform has a white top. The drawers and covered storage spaces are slate-grey with steel handles. The overhead shelves have white doors with steel handles. Ashi, wearing her blue churidhar and blue and white kameez, stands in the crook of the L, facing Raghav in his wheelchair. She is holding up a red container with a steel screwtop lid. Raghav is looking sideways at her and grinning. He wears white jeans and white knitted shirt with collar. His right hand is between his thighs and his left hand grips the arm rest. Behind Ashi on the platform there is a four-burner gas stove. A saucepan and a large vessel are placed on two of the burners.
Mid shot of Raghav in his wheelchair outdoors, between Ashi standing to the left and his grandmother Raman Wadhwa (78) standing to the right. All of them are beaming. Ashi wears her turquoise blue and white kameez. Raman wears spectacles with thin frames, a kameez in a design of dark pink bunches of tiny flowers on a pale pink background, and a dark pink dupatta around her neck and shoulders. Ashi has placed her right hand on Raghav’s right shoulder and Raman’s right hand rests on his left shoulder.
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“My family celebrates my birthday very grandly each year. Recently I went on a school picnic”

“If my son were ‘normal’, people would not have cared. But now they themselves come to him and speak to him.” This is Ashi Wadhwa (52), proud mother of Raghav. Her younger son, now 31, was born with cerebral palsy but Ashi and her husband, Harish, did not realise initially that he was a special needs child though the doctor had informed the couple right after the birth.
 
“He was a very cute child and at birth he cried like any other normal child,” she says. As he grew up, she believed that he was fine till the Amritsar-based couple realised Raghav was struggling to walk even at the age of three. So they got him braces and a walker. Soon it was evident he was not able to walk. Ashi says she did not have the heart to force him to do so. The couple visited various doctors and tried various therapies, including yoga, but there was no improvement.
 
Raghav was enrolled in a mainstream school but it was very hard as he could not do anything by himself and needed constant support. So the loving parents arranged for a tutor at home but this also did not last long. Consequently, he has no formal education but Ashi says he is very sharp and able to express himself. She proudly says that he knows his multiplication tables.
 
Never one to give up, Ashi happened to meet Maninder Jeet of Agosh Helping Hands. This was in 2018. When she visited the vocational and rehabilitation centre, “there were so many children there who were all so cute but probably more distressed than Raghav”. She is grateful to Maninder ma’am for selflessly taking care of these children. She believes her son is a prince because he has so many people taking care of him! “It is God’s grace that he has people around him to take care of his needs.”
 
Not that she was in any way slack in this department. When Raghav was small, she took care of all his needs: from brushing teeth to giving him a bath, dressing him, feeding him and so on. But now, as an adult, he is heavy and Harish helps with some of his needs. Even his grandmother Raman Wadhwa (78) is around to help out.
 
Raghav has been going to Agosh regularly now. He wakes up leisurely in the morning and goes to the centre in an auto by noon. He is done by 4 and he reaches home by 4.30. Though the centre opens at 10, Raghav cannot sit for too long in his wheelchair; hence the flexi hours. At the centre, they get the children to exercise, sing, dance, paint and so on. Raghav even participates in the annual day function where he has gone on stage.
 
At home, he watches TV or browses on his tab. Sometimes mother and son go for a stroll in the park. His birthday, September 17, is celebrated in style when they either go on vacation or dine in a posh hotel.
 
The centre also takes them on picnics; they went for one on New Year’s Eve last year and they recently celebrated Lohri. “Maninder ma’am says that these children should not be left behind and they should experience what others do,” says Ashi.
 
Raghav’s likes? Cold coffee and cleanliness. He prefers everything to be in order, says Ashi, adding that her three-year-old grandson Kabir, born to Raghav’s older brother Akshay who lives in Germany, is always concerned about his special uncle.


Photos:

Vicky Roy

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