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ruwaydah

ruwaydah
raja , kerala

Ruwaydah Raja lies flat on a bed, smiling broadly, holding an iPad with a bright pink cover that rests on her chest.
Overhead shot of Ruwaydah sitting on an orange yoga mat, right leg stretched, both hands holding her left leg folded at the knee. The mat is placed between two wooden cots with mattresses. To the front of the mat a few feet away is an open laptop.
Ruwaydah and her family sit in a row in the living room. From left to right: Her mother Sulekha Raja, Ruwaydah, three-year-old sister Maryam, and father Mohammed Raja. Sulekha in a white salwar and kameez with a brown zigzag pattern sits in an orange chair. Ruwaydah in a long top with a black-and-white geometrical print and black calf-length pants sits on a white stool. Maryam in a pink-and-white checked dress sits on a brown-and-white rocking horse. Mohammed wearing navy blue trousers and pale blue full-sleeved shirt sits on a light-coloured bean bag. Framed paintings of the Eiffel Tower and other cityscapes hang on the wall behind them. To the left, sunlight shines faintly through blue drapes on a French window.
Ruwaydah and Sulekha are sitting on a bed. Ruwaydah sits cross-legged with both hands clutching her feet. Sulekha, wearing glasses, is holding a sheet of paper and a pen in her right hand. She is looking at the paper which has drawings on it.
Ruwaydah in a room with a white door and ivory walls stands between a white chair and a white table. Her long hair is knotted at the back of her head. She is leaning over a sheet of newspaper spread on the table, left hand holding the side of a small steel saucer of blue paint, right hand holding a brush that she is dipping into the paint. On the newspaper is also placed a glass tumbler of water with a paintbrush dipped in it, and irregular shapes like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have been painted blue.
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“I like doing marbling and watching Ice Age and Barney the Dinosaur”

There is a story hidden behind the pretty decoupage boxes and Thank-you cards on ‘Thumbi by Ruwi’, the Facebook page of Ruwaydah Raja (17). It is an ongoing story of living with moderate-to-severe autism in which her parents are prominent characters and her mother Sulekha plays a leading role.
 
Mohammed Raja was an IT professional in Sharjah, UAE and Sulekha was a teacher when Ruwi was born. At two she was non-verbal, and when she was diagnosed with autism three months later, Sulekha was shattered. With time she overcame her crying jags and took matters in hand. In 2006 she came across an early intervention programme in Bangalore, Com DEALL, for children with developmental language disorders. She moved to a rented place in Bangalore with little Ruwi for three years. The programme benefitted them both: Ruwi started saying a few words and Sulekha gained strength through group therapy.
 
They returned to Sharjah in 2009. The couple now realised that autism was going to be a lifelong journey. They admitted Ruwi to a regular school but she didn’t fit in. They shifted her to a school for children with various disabilities, but it didn’t help her much. Sulekha was finding it increasingly difficult to manage Ruwi who had also developed epilepsy and was on anti-epileptics.
 
When Ruwi was nine, Sulekha returned with her to India, seeking support from her family (especially her mother) in Thiruvananthapuram. She set a one-year goal to train Ruwi in activities of daily living, including how to handle menstrual hygiene (with help) when she attained puberty at nine-and-a-half. She was comfortable sleeping alone only after she turned 10.
 
Sulekha returned to the UAE in 2014 but the couple struggled with Ruwi’s increasing, violent meltdowns. They returned to Thiruvananthapuram in 2017 and admitted Ruwi to CADRRE, the Autism School — “the best decision we’d taken” says Sulekha. She took a course in autism and started teaching at the School. With its individualised attention and its training in skills suited to each student, Ruwi made good progress. Her inclination for repetitive tasks was ideally suited to the techniques of marbling and decoupage.
 
Ruwi enjoys listening to Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam film songs, and watching animation movies and TV programmes. When you see a video clip of her, on ‘Thumbi by Ruwi’, humming softly and calmly creating her art, it’s a reminder that her name, Ruwaydah, means ‘unhurried’, ‘walking gently’.
 

Photos:

Vicky Roy

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