MM: Visually challenged boy wins the International Award for Young People: July 30, 2008 | Visually Challenged

KOLKATA: Prodip Sikdar, a 17-yearold from Kolkata, has become the first visually-challenged person from India to win the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for Young People.

Prodip went to the UK to participate in the awards competition on July 9. Participants from 102 countries including Germany, UK, India, Molta and Spain participated. Pradip was the first and the only visuallychallenged contestant from India to participate in the programme.

Prodip went with a group of 12 participants from India to Swinton near South Yorkshire, where all the participants took part in various kinds of adventure sports and mountaineering activities.

“I started participating in expeditions and adventure sports since I was in Class VII. But things started changing when I first participated in an expedition under the same programme,” an excited Prodip said.

He said it was extremely difficult to climb the steep rocks as it was raining incessantly in the UK during the monsoon. “The rocks were slippery and the co-ordinator’s instructions were in accented English," Prodip said with a smile on his face. “But I managed it somehow."

“It was a different kind of experience for me. For some moments, I never felt that I was blind. My competitors treated me as an equal. I also participated in tree-climbing, rope-walking over river, canoeing and all other activities. There were a lot of group activities as well and the whole group also helped me get acquainted with the new environment,” he added.

A student of Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission, Prodip’s father is a carpenter and he lives in a shelter in Howrah run by another blind mountaineer and teacher in the R K Mission, Biswajit Ray.

Prodip Sikdar (inset) climbing a tree during the programme

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