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Saturday, Mar 15, 2008
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Bus that keeps their spirits up

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: It is a bus full of joy for the special children of Umang, a centre for rehabilitation of persons born with disability, here in the Rajasthan Capital. Donated by a Goa-based shipping company, the bus not only has a hydraulic lift fitted at its rear for lifting the children on wheelchairs but also has paintings worth perhaps a few lakhs all over it!

The children of Umang -- which literally means exuberance -- would know none of its economics but they had the company of over half a dozen leading painters who have made the Pink City their home. The artists, who included Jaya Wheaton, Ankit Patel and Subrato Mandal, after interacting with children amid music and eatables, sat down to draw the colours of the sun.“This is the first bus in the State fitted with a hydraulic lift. As we got this Rs.20-lakh 35-seater bus as a gift, we thought we could do some value addition to the joy the children would have from it,” said Bina Kak, former Rajasthan Tourism Minister and chairperson of the Umang Charitable Trust. “The artists were given the common theme of the sun,” she explained pointing to all-pervasive sun-figures on both sides of the bus, which has a basic yellow hue background.

“The artists were kind enough to join at a single phone call. We provided them with paint and brush,” said Ms. Kak, who had roped in the Bollywood heart-throb Salman Khan the previous year to Umang to cheer the children. The artists so far swayed their brush on the rather unusual “canvas” included Meenakshi Bharati, Timmie Kumar, Rohini Mandawa and Brijit Singh. And more are to join in.

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