A little Progress for Radhika

Inspite of mailing Mumbai Mirror a couple of times asking for details on Radhika, I got nothing in return. So without wasting anymore time just waiting, I decided to search for her on my own. I guess there are certain things in life, where you have to work by your gutt feeling and something in mean just wanted to reach out to this kid – no matter what.

On Tuesday morning I dropped by K.D.N Shruti School (for the Deaf) in Juhu, this is the school that informed Mumbai Mirror about Radhika’s condition. At the school I met up with Ms. Vandana Havinawe, a speech therapist. To say that she was really helpful would be an understatement. Vandana sat with me for nearly an hour, explaining Radhika’s physical problems, her economic background, ways in which people could offer to help, etc. She also gave me Radhika’s father’s cell number along with the writer Mr. Vaman Phadke, who wrote the article in Mumbai Mirror.

Vandana informed me that the school was very keen to help Radhika’s family and would be there to guide me with respect to what-ever information/assistance was needed. She along with another teacher from the school suggested that it would be better to help with the operation expenses and school expenses rather then giving the collected money to Radhika’s family directly. After all our major concern here is the girl’s progress and it’s our job to see that the money is not mis-used by her family members.

The next appropriate step was to call up Radhika’s family and arrange a meeting with them basically to know if others like us had managed to get in touch with offering any sorts of help. The meeting was fixed for Wednesday morning 10.00 am. After leaving the school, I called up Mr. Vaman (writer for Mumbai Mirror) who was kind enough to take my call and promised to mail me details of individuals who called in to help Radhika’s family. However, till the very end of the day I received to no mail or call from Mr. Vaman.

Anyway, I reached the school on time today morning for my meeting with the wonder girl Radhika. Barely slept at night, was just so damn eager to let her and her family know that people are there to help them and that everything will work out just fine. Around 10.40 am, Radhika along with her mother Anita, aunt Nisha and father Krishna walked into the room. The first of the little girl is just so hard for me to describe to you guys, after a long time I am actually at loss of words. For first few seconds, I just could not get my eyes off her and from no where they were filled with tears. Radhika is a complete bundle of energy, running around the room with excitement, playing with toys given to her by Vandana; completely oblivious of her physical limitations. Believe me; she could actually give us some lessons on how to live life without a damn care in this world.

Most of the talking was done by Nisha, a young (around 15 years) but very smart girl for her age. She informed that after the article, quite a few television channels came over to their place and filmed Radhika, couple of charity institutions and schools also got in touch with them. Even a medical surgeon named Dr. Milind S. Wagh from L. H. Hiranandani hospital thru Mumbai Mirror has offered free medical surgery from his end, only the medical expenses of the hospital would be borne by the family.

However Radhika’s parents seemed a bit confused, as in to get going with her education or to get done with the surgery. I and Vandana advised them to start on which the surgery since Radhika is only 5 years old now, this was the right time. At least they should get in touch with Dr. Wagh and get more information regarding the surgery and its duration, expenses, etc. But frankly I am not sure how well I was able to convince them.

So I have decided that I will have a word with Dr. Wagh myself and get an appointment for Radhika as soon as possible. And things can be taken on further from there. I was also given a mobile number of a person who had called up Radhika’s dad offering financial assistance. On calling up, a gentleman named Neil gave me some really positive news; his boss is ready to help with the entire financial costs of Radhika’s surgery. I gave him the concerned doctor’s details and have also asked him to get in touch with him and later inform me about it.

For now the main priority, should be to get Radhika checked up by Dr. Wagh, who would be able to give us better and detailed understanding regarding the entire surgery process. On the other hand, we can also get in touch with schools that have offered to give Radhika admission and free education.

I shall keep you all informed with further updates and would also like to thank you for your genuine interest and sincere concern for Radhika. It’s completely amazing and gratifying to see people from all walks of life, ready to offer help to someone who is a complete stranger to them. Such efforts help us believe in the concept of ‘humanity’ even in this day and age.