Kumar Siddhant
Kumar Siddhant aka Bobby was born on 16 Nov 2003 at Muzaffarpur, Bihar. He is the youngest son of Mr. Phudena Singh, retired Air force officer and Mrs. Kiran Singh. Bobby's parents didn't know anything about Trisomy21 and neither any doctor told anything.
Whenever they approached any doctor regarding his slow growth, they got these kind of response, "some children are born like this", "he is a mongoloid child" etc but no one specified what actually the issue was.
He started to walk and talk very late and when he started to speak, he was not understandable. Only his family members could get what he wants to say! We couldn't get him admitted in any school, no school allowed even after showing govt. regulations.
When Bobby was 9 years old and his elder brother (Kumar Prakash) went to Delhi for his further studies, he gradually he came to know what is issue with his brother and what is trisomy21. He called his parents and Bobby to Delhi and booked and appointment with Dr. Praveen S Mehta at Child development Clinic (CDC) at Karol Bagh. IQ test was conducted by Dr. Imran Noorani and Bobby scored 68! Doctors told he could have done phenomenal if Bobby would have been enrolled for Early Intervention Programme! Anyways we moved ahead with whatever options we had that time. We started occupational therapy, speech therapy, physiotherapy and special education for him at CDC. At that time no such clinic were present in Bihar and Bobby's parents couldn't shift to Delhi permanently so they decided to travel Delhi every 3 to 4 months and stayed there for 15 or more days for these classes. Doctors and therapist prepared training programme for every 3-4 months which can be practiced at home. Bobby's classes were of great help, he started to improve but Bobby's parents were not able to cope up with the intricacies of these programmes. Prakash would skip his college for 15 or more days and go back to Muzaffarpur to keep doing what doctors and therapists asked them to do but it was hampering his studies.
Prakash asked his school friend Nishita to help him out and that is how, I made an entry into Bobby's life. Prakash attended all sessions with Bobby in Delhi and came back and stayed for two days in Muzaffarpur. In those two days he would explain to me what Bobby had done and what is needed to be done till Bobby goes back to Delhi. In simpler words I was the new tutor for Bobby.
Bobby was improving day by day. After few sessions we were asked to enroll Bobby in normal school so that he can learn to socialize and to be more self dependent.
We went to every school in radius of 4kms of Bobby's home but none of the schools accepted his admission. Lastly I asked Bobby's mother to go for school where I and Prakash studied. It was too far so we never gave thought to it but fate had planned a surprise for us. Principal of our alma mater, Mrs. Nilam Singh readily accepted to admit Bobby. She loved Bobby and appreciated him.
Gradually he started to socialize and made friends in school. He faced bullying and lot of other problems but he loved to go to school! We were glad that he has started to know himself and his likes dislikes. He studied in this school till class two!
Cut to, 2015, I and Prakash got job. I moved to Surat and Prakash to Mumbai, Bobby was left in Muzaffarpur with his mom and dad! We couldn't have his sessions now and it was tough for Prakash to take leave and do what he did for Bobby while he was in college.
After his probation period at job was over he went back to CDC in Oct'15. It was almost after 14 months Bobby was visiting back to CDC, Delhi. Doctors and therapist told us that Bobby's is now deteriorating and now he needs much more attention. We were advised to strictly follow each and every part of the programme if we want to make Bobby self dependent.
In 2016 I and Prakash decided to marry and keep Bobby with us. It was easy to travel Delhi or Mumbai from Surat for Bobby's therapies. It was still tough but we decided to take the first step and here again God granted us with blessings. In Surat we met Meghna di, and life of three of us changed. Now it was all accessible in Surat and gradually all good things happened. Bobby was enrolled in institute named ILI, where he started to learn which he missed by not going to CDC, Delhi. He started to go to Dance classes and Tae kwon do classes too. He loved every classes and he was improving rapidly.
Bobby had even performed dance at Gandhi Smruti Bhavan, Surat, that day will be always memorable for us. He and his dance partners were covered in local newspaper.
In Tae-kwon-do, he achieved White, Yellow, and Green belt! Initially teachers weren’t able to communicate with him but with time trainers and he built a great rapport.
School classes made him more confident and now he approaches every other person and greets them. Every one in our society knows him now and always greet Bobby ! He is favorite of his teachers too!
He learnt making candles and soap and sold all these in exhibition arranged by his institute ILI.
He learnt cooking at school and now he loves to learn and try new dishes.
He knows to make Chai, Roti, Rice, Khichdi, Poha independently and learning new dishes which have been uploaded frequently on his you tube channel!
He has learned stiching from last month, he knows French Knot, Chain Stich, Blanket Stich, Back Stich.
He can stich buttons and we are trying to make him learn about basic stitching.
He does all his chores himself, whether it is to make his bed, Bathe, Wash his cloth, Dressing Or Ironing! He washes his utensils and helps his bhabhi a lot!
Now in this Corona he learnt to communicate with his friends on video call! He loves his friends and made Friendship band for them.
He made Rakhi for both of me and Prakash.
He always tries to make everyone happy, whether he doesn't understand what is the reason behind anyone's sadness but he understands that one is sad. He tries his best to make that person smile.
He is a Santa for us and we are blessed to have him!
Our only dream is to see him fully independent!
We are going to achieve the same!
