DIPAN NANDY

Twelve-year-old Namira has never seen light in her entire life. Nor has she seen colours, alphabets or the faces of her loved ones. However, her seemingly devoid-of-light life is still brighter than ever, for she has the power of books written in braille.

On the 16th day of the Boi Mela, Namira was spotted inside the stall of “Sporsho Braille Publication”. Sporsho started its journey 14 years ago, aiming to make books available for visually impaired readers.

A book launching programme was organised at Bangla Academy’s information centre, for the eight braille books published by Sporsho. The event was joined by writer and educationist Muhammad Zafar Iqbal. “I am reluctant to call them blind. They can do things that we can’t. If we give them what they deserve, they will surpass us,” he said.

Researcher Mofidul Haque said, “It’s a great initiative, for it allows visually impaired readers the joy of reading.”

“We only hope that other publishers will step in with similar initiatives and publish at least one book in braille. That will create more reading opportunities for visually impaired readers,” said Nazia Jabin, founder of Sporsho.