Staying connected with music and dance

In a world where people form all walks of life have cut-throat competition, the physically challenged proved their mettle at a cultural programme held at Mount Carmel College auditorium recently.

Astha foundation, an NGO, organised a jugalbandi between physically challenged artistes and normal musicians.

Manjhibhai and Pratima Dani started the evening by sketching a few extraordinary paintings. Manjhibhai, an invited artist from Ahmedabad, started painting with his mouth and left the audience spellbound with his work.

The intricate strokes, complex texture and multi-coloured hues of his paintings brought out the beauty of his talent.

Such was the finesse of the art. He said, “If I can paint without my hands, you can also do what you want in your life.”

On the other hand, the perfect co-ordination in choreography between the members of Sree Ramanashree School troupe was worth watching. Each step was in-sync with each other.

The versatile and well-structured body movements took a natural course as they performed.

Later, Sounds of Soul, a band which had both visually impaired and normal artistes enthralled the audiences with their soulful music.

Waseem, Amit Jain and Vishal Jain though visually impaired could connect with the mood of the audience and enthralled them with some of their Hindi and Kannada scores like Ajeeb Dastah Hai Yeh, Zara Zara, Kurakku Kallikere and others.

At the end of the programme, Manjibhai and Pratima Dani donated their paintings to the foundation. While they were painting, people in the audiences were quite eager to purchase these paintings and they were sold for `5,000 to `7,000. Manjibhai’s painting which he did using his mouth was sold for Rs 30,000.