Shreekant Dubey, 39, whose right hand is amputated, has done a brilliant painting of Lord Ganesh. Mostly black and white, it depicts the elephant god in all his glory.

Another work by the hearing impaired Pradeep Kumar Tarei, 40, captures the varied hues of nature.

Meanwhile the hearing impaired Sidhartha Sankar Sukla, 31, has rendered a work called 'Grand Town." The work is rendered in collage form and depicts the hustle bustle of a city street that juxtaposes the old with the new in the form of busy shops.

A tigress with cubs is the subject of hearing impaired Imamuddin, 29 The artist is hearing impaired but has effectively caught the tigers of Ranthambore wildlife sanctu-iary

Sheela Sharma, who has had both upper limbs amputated, now paints with her toes. Her work, titled "Nature to Enjoy." has brilliant hues of colours such as orange, yellow, green with the moon in one corner.

The aptly titled exhibition, | ‘Beyond Limits 2008," brought together 90 works by 36 differently-abled artists from all over India -among others, Allahabad, Rajasthan, Chennai, Orissa, Delhi, Haryana, Kolkata, Bihar and Lucknow The aim was to showcase the talents of the differently-abled artists while focusing on their strengths and their passion for art.

The exhibition in New Delhi was sponsored by the Academy of Fine Arts & Literature, New Delhi along with the Krishnan family from Surajkund. Haryana. The venue was the Arpana Art Gallery, run by well-known artist Arpana Caur. While gallery space was provided free of cost, the organiser of the exhibition was Family Of Disabled TOD), an NGO committed to the cause of the disabled. The exhibition was the fifth in the series. Says

a pleased Preeti Johar, senior executive of FOD. “Many of the paintings on display have won appreciation such as those of the tigress and Sukla's works. So far we have sold 19 paintings." And. she goes on to add, “We do not want to sell the works on grounds of sympathy. We have to maintain the quality and strive to improve the works every year."

FOD is the brainchild of Rajinder Johar, the differently-abled father of Preeti. His is a tragic story - 23 years ago the then senior occupational therapist in King George’s Medical College in

Lucknow was rendered quadriplegic when he suffered bullet injuries inhisspine, the result of a shootout by some miscreants who intruded his home. At the time, the then three-year-old Preeti was seated on his lap and was rushed to safety by her injured father.

Despite his formidable handicap, says Preeti, her father remains “cheerful and humorous.” Johar keeps himself busy by editing a biannual magazine on disability called The Voice, the only one of its kind in India. FOD also nins the Apna Rozgaar Scheme (ARS) for

economic rehabilitation of the poor, illiterate and differently-abled individuals. The modus operandi is to provide die target groups with financial assistance so that they can initiate or expand their micro trades such as tea stalls, general merchandise, PCO/ STD facility and tailoring. The scheme to provide self-employment to die weaker sections of society now has 400 beneficiaries.

Yet there arc many hurdles to cross, say NGOs in Delhi. While government census figure say that only 2.1 percent of the population

of India is diabled, the actual figure (according to those in the know such as Dr Amartya Sen and WHO) is more likely to be 10 percent. There is a big question mark over government figures of disability particularly since the figure is around 7-8 percent even in developed countries.

Hopefully there is light at the end of a dark tunnel. Today with the Indian government having ratified the UN Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities, these marginalised people can look forward to a better future.