DA Diary
Sanjay Ghosh
Cannot move his limbs
He can play the sitar with his right leg. Misdiagnosed with diphtheria when he was just five, Sanjay lost the ability to move his limbs. At 49, he has no regrets.
“I knew I was different from other kids but I used to take offence every time somebody said I could not do something because of my physical drawbacks,” he said.
“I could never believe that I was handicapped and I used to feel humiliated when people used to call me one.”
Two years on, after treatment and exercise, life returned to his legs and left hand but the right hand remained dead. But Sanjay still managed to learn swimming and cycling.
“I was always looked upon as a helpless human being who could not do the things that he wanted to. It was this pity that made me strong and I developed a stubbornness to achieve things,” Ghosh said.
“When I started playing the sitar, at the back of my mind I knew I had to do it and it did not matter whether I used my leg or my hand,” he said.
As a painter, Sanjay's works have been put up by V.S Arts in Washington DC.
“When I was 16, in one of my exhibitions, somebody had called me disabled…. I felt so hurt that I refused to recognize him the next day. That reaction is something I still regret,” he said.
He can play the sitar with his right leg. Misdiagnosed with diphtheria when he was just five, Sanjay lost the ability to move his limbs. At 49, he has no regrets.
“I knew I was different from other kids but I used to take offence every time somebody said I could not do something because of my physical drawbacks,” he said.
“I could never believe that I was handicapped and I used to feel humiliated when people used to call me one.”
Two years on, after treatment and exercise, life returned to his legs and left hand but the right hand remained dead. But Sanjay still managed to learn swimming and cycling.
“I was always looked upon as a helpless human being who could not do the things that he wanted to. It was this pity that made me strong and I developed a stubbornness to achieve things,” Ghosh said.
“When I started playing the sitar, at the back of my mind I knew I had to do it and it did not matter whether I used my leg or my hand,” he said.
As a painter, Sanjay's works have been put up by V.S Arts in Washington DC.
“When I was 16, in one of my exhibitions, somebody had called me disabled…. I felt so hurt that I refused to recognize him the next day. That reaction is something I still regret,” he said.