Tamana Chona was born with spastic symptoms and cerebral palsy. She spoke her first words and took her first steps at the age of nine. At 46, she is preparing to run her third half-marathon, teaches nursery kids, plays tennis and does yoga, setting an example that a special needs individual could be woven into mainstream society.
Tamana Chona was born spastic and with cerebral palsy, not speaking her first words or walking till the age of nine. At 46, she is preparing two run her third halfmarathon to support the special school set up in her name by her mother, Dr Shyama Chona. Running along with her will be several supporters of Tamana, the NGO and the School of Hope.
Tamana is aware that she has come a long way. After a meeting with her, she calls to say, “I am what I am because of my Mom and Dad. People say I am handicapped. No, I’m not.” A nursery teacher at the mainstream Infant School in Delhi Public School, RK Puram, Tamana feels truly loved by everybody around her. She says, “I was born a special child, but today, everybody loves me.” Her world consists of her students, for whom she sits down at the computer every evening to research assignments, her friends at the Tamana School and her family.
As Dr Chona, a former principal of DPS, RK Puram, says, “Tamana was born with cerebral palsy.” Tamana completes the sentence, “And had delayed milestones.” Her mother continues, “Today she plays tennis, does yoga and takes hip-hop lessons.” She adds, “At our school, we make sure the kids play a lot.”
Tamana passed her 11th and 12th through the open school system and later trained in teaching nursery kids. Her resume reads, “In 2000, Delhi Public School Society employed her as a Nursery School Teacher at DPS Infant School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, to set an example that a special needs individual could be woven into mainstream society. She is the favourite teacher of the preschoolers at DPS who hops, skips and jumps with them.”
Family seems to be Tamana’s pivot, comprising her father, a retired Lieutenant General from the Indian Army, her brother, sister-in-law and two nieces. She played matchmaker for her brother and sister in-law, who accompanied her for Spanish classes. The family is protective, but watches from afar, allowing her to express her natural self.
Dr Chona remembers when she was born, a baby with spastic symptoms and cerebral palsy. “My world came to an end. I remember a lot of people telling me it was the result of my bad karma. But, Tamana had a beautiful smile and that’s what kept me going. I took her to UK, then the US and she underwent three surgeries before she could take her first steps. She couldn’t eat and we had to put bottled feed through her gullet, till she had mouth surgery. Tamana always had very good sensory perception, though. She couldn’t speak because of respiratory problems, but after surgery, all those words she had heard came tumbling out.” She was also enrolled in a special school.
Tamana talks easily about her childhood, but some details are hazy. She tries hard to remember how it felt when she took her first step. “I can’t remember,” she finally says. But she does remember the early years. She flops her head back and lets her hands hang limply…“That’s how I was. I used to drool too. I remember my brother taking care of me at times, when my parents were busy.” Tamana has a come a long way since and credits the change to her parents’ commitment. Through all these achievements, her education continues. Currently, she is learning to do sums in her head. “My mother is teaching me about money. So, she asks me to add numbers mentally.” Any message for parents of special children? “Don’t hide them or lock them up. Let them out to enjoy the world.”
Tamana is building up stamina for her run, helped by her friend and dietician Aditi and hip-hop teacher Pooja, coupled with tennis lessons. It helps that the day we met, the lift hadn’t been working for the last few days. Tamana sighed, “I was complaining about that, but I was told it would help me build stamina for my run.” It’s still a pain, admittedly, but she’s learning to grin and bear the climb up three flights of stairs to meet her friends at the Tamana office. And there are many friends here, including Rubaina, who coordinated our meeting. She says, “Tamana is a happy person. She loves having fun.” And if anybody’s ill, they get personal, handmade Get Well Soon cards from Tamana.
She also has friends from school and on a free day, enjoys going for movies, eating out and hanging out at the mall.” Every morning, Rubaina and Tamana also discuss issues from the newspaper, which Tamana reads religiously from front to back.
The child within Tamana is alive and well. According to her mother, she loves giving and would give away her entire wardrobe if she could. Dr Chona remarks, “Tamana doesn’t remember what she gets from people, but she loves giving, she tells me. She is happy, spontaneous and purehearted.” She adds, “I set up the school because of Tamana and didn’t realise I would be helping over a thousand kids. She is my guru.”
The school employs over 22 special kids and has trained and successfully placed several kids in various professions. Among them, Malhar, an 18-year-old student diagnosed with Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is enrolled at Tamana’s Coding Program (pilot) and was recently declared the winner of the National IT Challenge 2016, and will next compete globally with students from other countries in the Global IT Challenge in China. Devesh, 26, diagnosed with autism, completed his 12th from DPS, RK Puram and has recently been placed with an SME as a design trainee. Dr Chona believes mainstream schools still need to learn to be more sensitive and patient towards the needs of special children.
We wish more power to the mother-daughter dream team as they create a society that believes in equal opportunities.