HYDERABAD: As a white dove soared into the skies with all its gusto, fluttering its wings and gracefully gliding in circles above us, loud gasps and excited claps reverberated across Sadhana, a special education school in Nacharam for persons with intellectual disabilities. Donning bright red Santa caps, young and old alike thoroughly enjoyed the magic show, which was part of the Christmas programme organised by the Young Indians (Yi) team.
The magic show led by Teja Gadamsetty, India’s first PwD magician, made Sadhana’s children feel absolutely special as he called upon eager volunteers for his tricks. Witnessing such cheer, zeal, and happiness in all their children brought tears to the eyes of Madhusudhan Reddy and Surekha Reddy, founders of Sadhana. The Yi Hyderabad team — Ashwin Agarwal, Ashish Kumar Sonthalia, Wasim Baig, Ashmi Shah, Purnima Agarwal, Vishal Agarwal, Karthik Agarwal, Rohit Binjrajka, Pooja Lalwani, Tanish Agarwal, Smaran Kejriwal, and Shristi Agarwal — watched it all from the last row, wearing wide smiles on their faces.
Young Indians (Yi) is a movement for Indian youth to converge, lead, co-create and influence India’s future. “For this Christmas programme, Yi Hyderabad focused on raising awareness among Sadhana’s children about the importance of environmental responsibility, personal hygiene, and consuming a healthy, balanced meal,” said Ashish, the chair for Yi Hyderabad Accessibility Vertical, and his co-chairs Purnima, Karthik, Rohit, and Smaran.
Along with Sadhana’s children, Ashmi and Vishal — chair and co-chair respectively for climate change — and the Yi members sowed seeds in little pots, giving back to Mother Nature. Everyone enthusiastically paced around to deliver health and hygiene kits, an initiative by the Yi Hyderabad Health Vertical. Shristi, co-chair of this vertical, narrated an interesting story to all, incorporating in her tale some good habits one must follow.
“Everyone must volunteer for annadanam,” said Ashish, serving food to Sadhana’s children. “As part of our Annadanam initiative, we go to homes for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and distribute food. In 2024, we distributed over 5,500 meals, thanks to the selfless contribution coming from our Yi Hyderabad members. We want to continue this momentum in 2025,” he added.
“The Yi team coming and spending time with our children motivates them, our staff, and management to keep serving. My wife and I are very passionate about this cause,” said Madhusudhan.
Uma Aysola, CII’s South Region Lead for Health and Wellbeing - Indian Women Network, has also been the vice-president of Sadhana since 1999. She said, “I have been a part of this family for a long time now; my daughter is also one of Sadhana’s children. I am grateful to Madhusudhan, Surekha and Yi. The Yi team does work with a lot of consciousness, helping the next generation understand this cause better.”
Ashish expressed, “We are not doing it just because we are part of an organisation — we want members all over the country and across the world to contribute and enrich the lives of those with disabilities. Together, we can make accessibility a priority rather than a privilege.”
The programme at Sadhana was an experience that embodied inclusivity, simplicity and kindness. What Ashish, Yi, Uma, and the Reddy couple are doing every single day is the true definition of service before self.