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    "result": {"pageContext":{"language":"en","pathURL":"rijumoni-chetia-gogoi","isDefaultLanguage":true,"storyData":{"Name":"Rijumoni Chetia Gogoi","Alt_Photos":null,"Alt_Text_Photo1":"Rijumoni Chetia Gogoi (57) sits cross-legged on the floor. She wears a turquoise blue cotton blouse and a pale sky blue, semi-transparent, voile sari. Her black hair with a slightly off-centre parting is tightly combed back. She wears rectangular rimless specs and a small red bindi in the centre of her eyebrows. In her left hand she holds a disc made of woven cane which rests on her knees. The circular frame of the disc is painted maroon. Holding a thin yellow-handled artists’ paintbrush in her right hand she is applying paint on to the disc’s surface. There are two finished paintings on either side of her, on the floor, propped up against the coffee brown wall. Three more such paintings rest side by side against the wall at a height, on top of a narrow steel shelf painted dark grey. Placed flat on the floor side by side in front of her are three such paintings. In front of these paintings there are three small statuettes of the Buddha. All the paintings depict dancers in traditional Assamese attire dancing the Bihu on green grass against a blue sky.","Alt_Text_Photo2":"Rijumoni is outside, turning to the right as she stand on the grey cement-paved narrow backyard. She wears a dark green blouse and a mustard-gold silk sari with a pale grey border. She is stooping over a row of potted flowering plants and watering one of them with a red mug held in her right hand. The small plants bear red, white and yellow flowers. The pots are lined up against the outer wall of the house, painted sky blue, to the right. Another row of larger pots painted dark grey is lined up behind her to the left. The fence behind these pots is built with grey corrugated metal sheets.","Alt_Text_Photo3":"Mid and frontal shot of Rijumoni, wearing her dark green blouse and mustard-gold sari, sitting in a black wooden chair and reading an Assamese language newspaper. Next to her to the left is a similar chair backed with a U-shaped cushion. The cushion cover has a broad brown border slashed with maroon, and an eggshell-blue centre decorated in a floral design of pale pink, pale blue and cream. On the sky blue wall behind her there is a large, rectangular certificate framed in dark brown wood next to a smaller one edged in black. ","Alt_Text_Photo4":"Overhead shot of Rijumoni in the kitchen. She wears a green blouse and sky blue sari printed with small white flowers. The wall behind her is roughly daubed with white chunam (lime). On the brown wooden table in front of her there is a twin-burner gas stove. There is an aluminium kettle on the left burner and a shallow, long-handled, aluminium saucepan on the right. Steam rises from the water in the pan. With her left hand Rijumoni holds the side of an open, cylindrical steel dabba (container) placed on the table. From this dabba she is taking out what appears to be dark brown tea leaves with her right hand. Next to it is a similar, slightly larger, closed steel dabba.","Alt_Text_Photo5":"Rijumoni sits in a dark brown wooden sofa next to her mother Binu Prava Hazarika (81). Her son Rupjyoti Gogoi (21) stands next to the sofa with arms crossed across his chest. In front of the sofa there is a sidetable covered with an orange tablecloth. The floor is polished greyish-brown cement. The background wall is cream. Rijumoni wears her green blouse and mustard-gold sari. A bespectacled Binu Prava wears the traditional mekhala (skirt) and chador (shawl). The chador is off-white and mehkala, violet. She also wears a black shawl that covers her upper body, almost hiding the chador. Rupjyoti wears smoky-grey cotton pants and a greyish-white T-shirt. To the right of the sofa there is a large glass-fronted showcase with its four shelves filled with trophies.","Alt_Text_Video":null,"Photo1_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Rajumoni_Chetia_Gogoi/_O2A3826.jpg","Photo2_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Rajumoni_Chetia_Gogoi/_O2A3875.jpg","Photo3_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Rajumoni_Chetia_Gogoi/_O2A3908.jpg","Photo4_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Rajumoni_Chetia_Gogoi/_O2A3931.jpg","Photo5_URL":"https://egsweb.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Rajumoni_Chetia_Gogoi/_O2A3866.jpg","Name_English":"Rijumoni Chetia Gogoi","Language":"en","Disability":["recxiHVc0FinkZpyx"],"Gender":"Female","Instagram_Content":"Rijumoni Chetia (57) and her older sister Bijumoni, both born with deafness, are among the five children of Khetradhar Chetia and Binu Prava Hazarika. Binu, now 81, recalls the immense difficulties they faced bringing them up. Both sisters couldn’t proceed beyond Class 3 at a nearby mainstream school. Rijumoni was enrolled at Balya Bhavan, where she learned art. She worked as an art teacher for several years until she came in contact with Jyotsna Sonowal who founded Prerona Pratibandhi in 2001. \n\nRijumoni joined Prerona in 2002 when it was functioning as a self-help group and had yet to become an NGO. During one of Prerona’s workshops, Rijumoni met Pabitra Gogoi, who also had deafness. A mutual affection blossomed, and they got married. Their son Rupjyoti was barely three when Pabitra met with a fatal road accident. Despite this immense loss, Rijumoni showed incredible resilience. \n\nAt Prerona Children Home, which Jyotsna established in 2016 for orphaned and destitute children, Rijumoni earns ₹5,000 a month teaching art and craft. Among the five siblings, the eldest, Usharani, lives separately with her husband Pronob Rajbonshi, and so does her brother Chandan and his family. Bitumoni, who is single, runs a fast food outlet in the bustling Chowkidinghee intersection and lives with his mother, two sisters and nephew. Bijumoni never married; she earns pin money taking orders for her embroidery work. Rupjyoti, who is studying Electrical in Lahoal College’s Industrial Training Institute, says, “Since childhood, I have shared a very special bond with my mother. I gradually learned to communicate with her through our own unique sign language.”","Quote":"“I have won many prizes in art competitions and I’ve been an art teacher for many years”","Status":"Published","Video":null,"Website_Content":"Among the three Bihu festivals enthusiastically celebrated across Assam, the one held in spring includes competitions featuring spectacular performances that highlight traditional culture. Rupjyoti Gogoi (20) from Dibrugarh has won many tributes for playing the dhol (drum) and pepa (hornpipe) in Bihu competitions. The eyes of his mother Rijumoni Chetia (57) shine with pride when they see his trophies. But her ears have never heard his music. \n \nRijumoni and her older sister Bijumoni, both born with deafness, are among the five children of Khetradhar Chetia and Binu Prava Hazarika. Binu, now 81, recalls: “We realised at a very young age that they could neither speak nor hear so we took them to an ENT specialist Dr B.R. Das who confirmed their deafness. We faced immense difficulties bringing them up.” Both sisters attended a nearby mainstream school, Nadeshwar Chakravarty High School, but they couldn’t proceed beyond Class 3 because they couldn’t hear or understand their lessons.\n \nWhen the couple enrolled Rijumoni at Balya Bhavan, she began learning under a reputed art teacher, (Late) Priti Ranjan Das, and this steered the direction her life would take. “I used to accompany her to the classes, four to five days a week,” her youngest brother Bitumoni Chetia remembers. “While she learned art, I spent time playing table tennis and carrom there.” She then worked as an art teacher at Blessing, a school for children with special needs, for nearly 18 years. Later, she worked for a while at a school established by her tutor Priti Ranjan Das, and then came in contact with Jyotsna Sonowal who founded Prerona Pratibandhi in 2001. \n \nRijumoni joined Prerona in 2002 when it was functioning as a self-help group and had yet to become an NGO. In October that year, the group organised an art exhibition for individuals with disabilities. Rijumoni participated and showcased exceptional artistic skills. But she was also slipping into depression, a fact that Binu shared with Jyotsna. “Rijumoni would often tell her mother she was a burden to the family and it was better to die,” Jyotsna narrated. “Then we heard about a man who had thrown his disabled 12-year-old daughter into the river Brahmaputra. Hearing about such struggles, our group was driven to firmly establish Prerona as an NGO to support individuals like Rijumoni.”\n \nDuring one of Prerona’s workshops, Rijumoni, in her thirties, met Pabitra Gogoi, who was in his twenties and also had deafness. A mutual affection blossomed, and they eloped. The NGO staff searched for the missing Rijumoni and found her in Pabitra’s house in Barpathar Gaon, dressed as a bride in traditional handwoven clothes, with the village community gathering to solemnise their wedding!\n \nFollowing the marriage, the NGO helped them set up livelihoods: Rijumoni focussed on handicrafts, while Pabitra was given a sewing machine and helped to open a small shop. Despite their families’ fears that a child born of two Deaf individuals would also have deafness, the couple decided to start a family. Rupjyoti was born with hearing intact. Rijumoni bought a scooter for Pabitra with her personal earnings. The future looked rosy, but it was not to be.\n \nRupjyoti was barely three when Pabitra met with a fatal road accident. Despite this immense loss, Rijumoni showed incredible resilience. She couldn’t manage to singlehandedly bring up her little boy, so she moved back to her parental home and continued her association with Prerona. At Prerona Children Home, which Jyotsna established in 2016 for orphaned and destitute children, Rijumoni earns ₹5,000 a month teaching art and craft. Jyotsna says, “Despite her speech barrier, she and the children understand one another very well.” She wishes the government would provide financial assistance or help set up a sales outlet for independent artists with disabilities.\n \nAmong the five siblings, the eldest, Usharani, lives separately with her husband Pronob Rajbonshi, and so does her brother Chandan and his family. Bitumoni, who is single, runs a fast food outlet in the bustling Chowkidinghee intersection and lives with his mother, two sisters and nephew. Bijumoni never married; she earns pin money taking orders for her embroidery work. Rupjyoti is studying in Lahoal College’s Industrial Training Institute and has chosen the Electrical branch. He is also a content creator who enjoys documenting his experiences: in 2025 he and a friend took a month-long bicycle trip to Kedarnath temple, which he counts as “the most memorable and adventurous experience” of his life. \n \n“Since childhood, I have shared a very special bond with my mother,” Rupjyoti says. “I gradually learned to communicate with her through our own unique sign language.” He shares a childhood memory: like all children he loved only the cream in cream biscuits. He used to lick the cream and throw the outer shells outside the house. This happened repeatedly until one day Rijumoni lost her temper. She scolded and hit him for wasting food. “Today, when I look back, the memory feels both emotional and funny,” says Rupjyoti. “It reminds me of my mother’s love and her sense of discipline. The lesson – the value of not wasting – will remain with me throughout my life.”\n","State_name":"Assam","Display_Order":259}}},
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