CHENNAI : A11-year-old boy with neatly kept hair, dressed in a striped grey and white shirt paired with grey pants, walked into the conference hall on the second floor of Rajan Eye Care T Nagar. Anirudh B, a class 7 student of PSBB Millennium School, Gerugambakkam, carried a pouch full of stationery, a writing pad, and eyes filled with various emotions — scared, yet happy, anxious, but confident. He was in a deep conversation with his mother. She was quizzing him on eye- and health-related questions. With every right response, he grinned, and on incorrect answers, he said, “Sorry ma”.
Anirudh and 23 other students from schools across Chennai participated in ‘For Your Eyes Only’, a school quiz on eye and healthcare for students of classes 6 to 12. This was held on Thursday to celebrate the National Eye Donation Fortnight — from August 25 to September 8. Rotary Rajan Eye Bank and Rajan Eye Care conducted the quiz competition to promote the goodness of health and educate the public on the importance of eye donation.
As the clock struck 5.45 pm, Arvind Rajeev Sarathy, a quizmaster from X Quiz It, began the sixth edition of the quiz competition. Arvind took the children through the quiz’s rules. “This quiz targets youngsters to be aware of the most powerful organ of the human body, the eyes. This year, the questions involve the health aspect that is indirectly related to the eye. For example, obesity and eye; diabetes and eye and like that,” he said.
The event had a mix of newcomers as well as regular quizzers. Jayashri Sridhar, an advertising professional and the mother of Advait, a participant shared, “We make it a point to attend the quiz each year. This quiz focuses on and spreads awareness about eye donation. In that way, it is fun and knowledgeable.”
On the importance of eye donation, Dr Mohan Rajan, chairman of Rajan Eye Care pointed out, “Sri Lanka, a smaller country than India, has a higher rate of retinal transplant. They even export retinas to 35 other countries. Coming home, every fifth Indian is blind. If there are a lakh blind, only 60,000 undergo surgeries and the saddest part is that the blind individuals are below the age of 15.” He added that there are many religious and spiritual taboos associated with eye donation but people should come forward as they would live through their eyes even after their demise.
The event’s chief guest was Narendar SriSrimal, president, Rotary Club of Madras, T Nagar. He said, “When you donate eyes, you bring light into the darkness of someone’s life. It is a noble cause.” He awarded the winners of the quiz. Anirudh bagged the first prize with 145 points.
The finale’s last question was on the works of Hudson Silva, who was a key contributor to promoting eye donation in Sri Lanka. Anirudh was among the two who got the answers right. On winning the trophy Anirudh said, “The pressure was real and I lost a few points in the beginning. I did not think I would win.
But, I calmed myself and started focussing on the questions. I am very happy.” Anirudh’s mother, Dr Logapriya shared, “He always asks me questions to which I do not have answers. That is why I encourage him to participate in quiz, so that he gains knowledge. Today, I am very happy that he answered all the questions and won.”