As part of the Art For Inclusion initiative of India Inclusion Foundation, the organizers have set up a monthly meet-up for all the Fellows of Art For Inclusion with eminent personalities. This initiative is called “Art for Inclusion – Inspiring Talk Series”.

Picture Description: Event poster of Art For Inclusion “Inspiring Talk” series

We had our first meetup on 29 January 2021. Dr Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta was the guest speaker and the event was titled “Break the limits”.

Dr Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta is a motivational & TEDx speaker, musician and composer, graphics designer, certified happiness coach and the founder of Happiness Unlimited. He holds several records registered in the Limca Book and the Asia Book of records for typing and creating graphics using a single finger of his left hand.

Dr. Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta is a true warrior because he has won his own battle of life through sheer willpower, despite being born with the rare Brittle Bone Disease (Osteogenesis Imperfecta). He has sustained more than 50 fractures in his body, has a severe hearing impairment and has been confined to an electric wheelchair for the last 13 years. But he has made his life so abled that he has now become an inspiration to us all. He has done research on accessibility and he hopes to evoke awareness to transform India into a wheelchair friendly country.

Karthik hosted the event and 13 artists joined the meeting, which started at 7 PM sharp. After a round of introductions, Dr Sai began his life story. From the age of five he had loved to dance but with Brittle Bone Disease he found it impossible to pursue this pastime, so his parents introduced him to some other hobbies. He discovered his talent in music and went on to become a singer and composer.

Since 2015 the only part of his body that he can move is one finger of his left hand, but his spirit did not break because his heart was strong, he said. He heard a “strong voice from inside his heart” telling him that life is like a canvas and an empty canvas cannot inspire anyone. This is when he started to learn typing with one finger and learnt graphic designing and many other operations on the computer. He created many world records such as “fastest typing with one finger” in the Limca Book and the Asia Book of Records. He screen-shared with us the posters he had designed on different subjects – festivals and important occasions such as World Yoga Day and World Diabetes Day.

After Dr Sai’s talk we had a wonderful discussion with him and many people asked him questions such as – How do we design a life of happiness? He replied to everything with a beautiful smile on his face, and mentored us on how we could achieve our goals in life.

Picture Description: Art For Inclusion Fellows, team and guest speaker Dr Sai Kaustuv Dasgupta

What I can conclude from this meet-up is that Dr Sai has shown us that we all are equal. God has made each one of us unique and everyone is differently abled. Nothing is impossible, and there is nothing that we can’t achieve if we have strong will-power and find the right direction in life. He has “broken the limits” and we all can do the same.

Anu Jain

https://anujain.com/

Born with her arms extending only till the elbows and with legs stopping short of the knees, Anu has been creating magic with her paintbrush.