BHOPAL: "There is light at the end of every dark tunnel," is how the saying goes and it applies for the children living with intellectual and physical deformities after being affected by the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, as they are determined to leave the obnoxious past behind, by creating a niche in the world of para-sports.
At the forefront among the promising special teenagers and youngsters aged between 13 and 23 years, is 17-year-old Disha Tiwari, whose intellectual disability disorder (IDD) has failed to prevent her from shooting to success in the basketball arena.
Eldest among the three children of jobless driver Mahesh Tiwari and Arti Tiwari (both were aged between 3 and 5 years respectively when the December 1984 tragedy happened), Disha was part of the Indian team, which won the silver medal in the basketball event of the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 – world’s largest inclusive sports event, in which thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities compete together.
"Health hazards emanating from the killer gas leak of 1984 have become part and parcel of me and my wife. Two of my three children, including eldest Disha and youngest Rishi (10) suffer from the same intellectual disabilities, while our second child Avdhesh is completely normal and bright in studies."
"Disha, however, with the help of experts is determined at making big in basketball and short-distance running. We’re proud of her work ethics and determination to excel particularly in the basketball arena,” said a proud Mahesh Tiwari, whose health problems have seen him lose a driver’s job three months back.
Talking to The New Indian Express through her father, Disha shared the fond memories of the 2023 Germany games silver medal finish, besides silver and gold medals in similar national tournaments since 2022.
“I took to basketball two years back and still remember winning the second place, after narrowly losing to Sweden in the title clash in Berlin in June 2023. In the next five years, I dream of not just making big as a cager, but also sprinting to success in the short athletic sprints,” said Disha, who is now also working at clearing her Class X exam through the MP state Open School.
Joining Disha in the pursuit sporting success, leaving behind the agony of the noxious past which has tailed their families since the last 40 years, are ten more teenagers and youngsters. The talented bunch (which represent the first generation of those who were kids when affected by the poisonous disaster), include Huzefa Khan and Arhan Khan (13), Ahmad Ameen and Satyam Sahu (14), Nisha Hakeem (15), Mutallib (18), Ashok Singh and Aman Anwar (19), Sana Khan (21) and Shahid Khan (23).
These special teenagers and youngsters, raring to make it big in the field of sports arena, after winning laurels in their special events in soccer, basketball, athletics and cycling in recent years are living with intellectual, visual and hearing impairment problems, while some of them also suffer since birth by cerebral palsy.
Another promising talent is 21-year-old Sana Khan, whose mother Shakila Khan, was among the residents of the JP Nagar locality, possibly the worst hit area of Bhopal in the December 2-3 killer gas leak from the Union Carbide plant.
“My daughter’s grit and focus on basketball and athletics, despite suffering from intellectual as well as hearing problems, is our motivator to leave behind our poisonous past which will continue to live with us in the form of some or other health problem,” says Sana’s gas tragedy survivor mother Shakila Khan.
These specially enabled teenagers and youths were part of the big group of special kids (representing the first generation of parents who were kids when affected by the 1984 tragedy) who mourned the loss of lives by the 1984 tragedy with candlelight vigil in JP Nagar locality on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the tragedy on Sunday.
Joining them were the members of the Chingari Trust, which since the last 18 years is endlessly engaged in the rehabilitation of congenitally disabled children born in families affected by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and the subsequent water contamination in at least 42 municipal wards of the Madhya Pradesh capital.
"We’ve been working since the last 18 years with these children afflicted with different forms of congenital (existing since birth) disabilities, including IDD, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy with a dedicated team of physiotherapist, speech and occupational therapists, special educators, besides sports and music and arts experts free of cost."
"More than 1300 children are registered with the trust, but owing to a shortage of resources, we are able to provide regular services to just around 300 of them. If the government takes care of the needs of these children, the gas tragedy-affected families’ special children will certainly come up with spectacular feats, on the lines of their 11 peers," said Chingari Trust’s managing trustee Rasheeda Bee and speech therapist Nousheen Khan.