Bachche Dekhne Lage (a success story)
None of us knew that a conference call on 7th March 2024 with the founders of Snehashram Drishtihin School in Bidhannagar (near Bagdogra) and our NGO partners – Blue Parijaat Foundation in Mumbai would change of the lives of 4 little girls forever.
None of it was as simple as it appeared. It took some time for the collaboration to kick off as everyone wasbusy with their own programs and intervention. Snehashram, founded by 2 visually-impaired gentlemen, is short-staffed for paperwork. It took them time to get a volunteer to get the papers in order and send them across.
Finally on 8 November 2024, screening documents (case papers) related to these childrenfrom economically disadvantaged families were received by our partners Blue Parijaat Foundation and sent across to us. What started as a simple conversation culminated into a marathon exercise in Sight Restoration. At first glance, these case papers which were the output of a basic eye checkup campdid not give much hope of restoring sight to these children.
After screening 12 cases (documents) and classifying them as per their possible line of treatment, I happened to mention it to the CEO of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission Hospitalin Pune around April 2025. Since most of the children were from very vulnerable families (one of them being an orphan) and visually impaired the hospital readily agreed to treat them at cost and support them in every possible way.
Things were moving a bit slow, while the families were contacted and their consent was sought for pursuing treatment, but fortunately we were navigating in the right direction. Each and every stake holder focused onlyin the interest of the kids.
By the time it was June 2025, travel reservations were being considered from Bagdogra to Pune when it occurred to me that
these children could be assessed at Patna (which is much closer to Bagdogra) by our panel paediatric surgeon.
It was our surgeon who runs a small hospital in Patna who did a thorough job of assessment and gave us HOPE! He insisted that
some of the kids had a very good chance for clear vision and they could be operated at a full service eye hospital in Mumbai, Pune
or Hyderabad. 6 kids, 1 adult and one attendant made an overnight trip to Patna on 13 July 2025 by train.
Case papers were relayed between surgeons at the Patna clinic, a Mumbai hospital and Pune Sadhu Vaswani mission hospital to understand cost estimates, logistics, stay and so on.
With festivals round the corner in September and escalating travel costs, 8 children, 2 adults and 2 attendants were air lifted from
Bagdogra and flown to Pune on 9th September 2025. Their journey started at 6:30pm and landed in Pune by 11:30pm. Their first air travel was a memorable experience for them, with the kids saying ‘Hum itni jaldi kaise aa gaye’! The love, warmth, care, hospitality and line of treatment showered by the Sadhu Vaswani Mission Hospital is a rare shining example of eye care in our country for the less privileged. Truly a beacon of empathy. None of us could ever imagine that the hospital team would go beyond their call of duty several times during this group’s two week stay. The group was treated so kindly by not just the medical staff and admin team but also by the mavshis and mamas.
4 little girls underwent complicated cataract surgeries and the joy on their face could not be captured on camera. Their vision restored, their lives changed forever!
3 more kids started using Low Vision Aids. Their smiles glowing from ear to ear. The rest got a pair of new glasses, however, it was one little boy who broke our heart. Despite every effort (including an MRI) we could not restore his sight. He was born with developmental issues which were beyond any intervention.
The entire set of kids and adults left Pune by train on 21 September 2025 at 8:30am. It would take them nearly 2.5 days to reach Bagdogra by train but when they finally do they will see the world from a different lens.
By Percy Ghaswala
