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