Will there be a more 'inclusive' attitude? : reflecting on Taare Zameen Par | Nilotpal Basu

Published on 28-04-2008 In General

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Will there be a more 'inclusive' attitude? : reflecting on Taare Zameen Par

Children's mind is a fascinating world. It has been widely accepted that despite the rapid strides of medical science, this is largely an area which is yet to be fully understood, let alone grasped. However, now new specialized branches of medical science have come to deal with the child's health particularly, their mental health. This is increasingly coming under great focus and attention. Within the process of this renewed attention- a particular branch of pediatrics - 'Neonatology' - dealing with the science of development of the new born up to the third year of its birth is making rapid progress.

What developments in this area have shown - the growth of a child, particularly the development of their mental faculties takes place during this critical period of their life. Unfortunately, often there is a great degree of insensitivity, if not outright ignorance on this. There is no systematic attempt to understand the mental development of a child. Conversely, there is no specific effort to find out any lack of proper and balanced progress.

In a country where investment in human development does not receive the priority that it should – this is no surprise. In fact a number of UN bodies like, UNICEF and UNESCO have shown in their studies that investment in human development is a major force multiplier for the productive capacities of a community and the overall economic well-being of a people. The noble laureate – the economist Prof. Amartya Sen has shown in one of his studied comparisons between India and China- one of the major factors for China's comparative growth impulse is its readiness to invest in primary education and primary healthcare.

In fact today, the world over, there is a major surge in the awareness on the rights of the children. These rights include not only on the physical infrastructure for access to health or education or on concrete questions of prevention of dreaded diseases through the programme of universal immunization. Obviously, these are important for they bring down the infant mortality rate dramatically, which constitutes an important element in the constitution of the human development index. But, what medical science like Neonatology is increasingly revealing is that deficiencies within the children – be they physical or in terms of mental development – and whether they are congenital or due to subsequent trauma – can be rectified if not fully reversed.

But the right of the children and the pre-requisite of the concerned UN charter on this warrant that this access to correction of such deficiencies become a part of the overall policy orientation to translate these rights into a reality. Unfortunately, where the overall investment and its enhancement for human development receives such scant attention where the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agreed by the UN has remained a distant dream, that the mental health of a child or the lack of it will not be a priority is a foregone conclusion.

This criminal apathy about such important issues pertaining to the children's right has become an even more growing reality in the light of the primacy of market-driven development influencing our educational processes. But that even those whose parents do have the economic wherewithal cannot necessarily buy their children the kind of right that is enshrined in the UN charter for children hit us like a bolt in one of the most fascinating films that has been made recently – Taare Zameen Par.

And I must concede that – being a father of children – I could not indulge in the dispassionate detachment in viewing of the film which a social and political activist that I am - demanded.

The film probes the depth of a child's mind with the precision of a surgeon on the one hand and the touch of a surrealist artist's paint brush on the other. It is rare to see such a combination in contemporary commercial films. Usually, such serious subjects do not receive blessings of the box office. That this one did, speaks volumes about the ability of the film-maker to communicate such a complicated subject with such candour.

The film also traces the genesis of the very notion of disability. At one point in time the nomenclature for those afflicted with disability was – "handicapped." Subsequently, they came to be known as "challenged." Still further on – "people with special needs." Finally, they have come to be recognized as – "differently abled." These changing nomenclatures in themselves have a story to tell – that of a gradual progress in sensitivity in comprehending the strengths and challenges that such human beings face.

That Ishaan Awasthi played by debutant Darsheel Safary almost prodigally was a dyslexic, however, appears to be a coincidence. Had Ishaan not been one the quest into the depths of his mind to find out about his creative abilities would have remained equally valid. Such a quest is at the heart of modern pedagogic process to empower a child and make his rights to be fully realized. But that is an altogether different proposition.

Ram Shankar Nikumbh again played brilliantly by the redoubtable actor Aamir Khan who also happens to be the maker of the film – the teacher who shows the sensitivity to read the difficulties of the 'differently abled' Ishaan. And in probing further he also finds about the brilliance of Ishaan's artistic and creative mind. The dyslexic child's overall transformation is so dramatic that it brings about an attitudinal change in the otherwise unacceptably insensitive father. To a lesser degree, I have no hesitation to concede, that I have also shared this journey of Ishaan's father.

There is a lesson in this for all of us. There is no doubt about fundamentally assimilating this lesson on the pre-requisites of being sensitive in dealing with children generally. But my instincts of a social activist also leave me with a big question after having seen the film. That Ishaan had the opportunity of coming across a teacher like Ram Shankar, was it really such a big coincidence?

As someone who has been taking up the questions of rights of education and that of children, I am inclined to answer in the negative. With the kind of investment that our governments have been making, the basic infrastructure for providing a decent basic education itself is conspicuous by its absence. In such a background, with the quality and quantity of teachers – the chances of thousands of Ishaans from our millions of vulnerable and backward households having access to teachers like Ram Shankar and infrastructure that he got – are one in a million.

If Taare Zameen Par has in any significant way stirred our otherwise unresponsive emotions, and more importantly the associated cerebral activity, we ought to, in whatever humble way, that we can think of, to contribute towards the cause of millions of our hapless children.

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