Last year during the Diwali season Akarsh Bharadwaj, a corporate trainer brought light to the life of a woman, he had just come across. She was visually impaired with scars on her face and was selling balloons in one hand and held a baby in another. Her husband had abandoned her after their neighbour attacked her with acid. He left her because her face was disfigured.
Earlier she worked as a security guard and eventually lost her job because of the incident that took place in her life. Her statement when Akash met her was “Jis aurat ko muh dek ke nikaal dia, usko kaun naukri dega ( A woman is asked to leave a job because of her face, who will employ a woman in this situation)?”
This moved Bhardwaj and compelled him to do something for this woman more like her. He then launched a travel firm and a gift-courier firm, Khaas and Khaas Uphaar, where these visually impaired women are employed.
His aim was to employ at least four acid-attack survivors in two months. Bharadwaj also sacrificed his wife’s possessions by selling her jewelry and his bike, to set up the enterprise.
Kamlesh, Acharna, Dipti, Prema and Nirmal are the first five woman currently working with Akash Bharadwaj. Archana lost her vision due to the negligence of doctors when she was going through a brain tumor operation. She is 34 years old now and has a master’s in home science. Another lady, Kamlesh is a post graduate from Jamia University.
All of them enjoy working together and meeting new people. They like to take and solve the challenges they come across with their clients.
“We have a very small office on the fourth floor of a building in Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi. Since it’s difficult for the visually impaired girls to go up and down the stairs, we are looking for a larger space on the ground floor,” says Bhardwaj. He is now looking for funds to purchase the equipment which would ease the hurdles that his staff faces everyday !
