Home for the Blinds celebrates Louis Braille’s birthday

Ferozepur,  January 4, 2017:  The birth day of Louis Braille – inventor of six-dots raised language punched on a card sheet to be ready by visually impaired persons – was celebrated at Home for the Blind, Ferozepur today.

Kashmiri Lal visually impaired retired teacher from District In-service Educational Training (DIET), who is the product of this institution, was especially present.

The inmates garlanded the statue of Louise Braille followed by a tea party.

Speaking on the occasion, Kashmir Lal, narrated the history of Louise Braille.  He said, Louis Braille was born in 1809, in a small village near Paris. His father made harnesses and other leather goods to sell to the other villagers. Louis’ father often used sharp tools to cut and punch holes in the leather.

He further said, One of the tools he used to makes holes was a sharp awl. An awl is a tool that looks like a short pointed stick, with a round, wooden handle. While playing with one of his father’s awls, Louis’ hand slipped and he accidentally poked one of his eyes. At first the injury didn’t seem serious, but then the wound became infected. A few days later young Louis lost sight in both his eyes. The first few days after becoming blind were very hard.  he spent working on an alphabet made up entirely of six dots. The position of the different dots would represent the different letters of the alphabet.  Louis used the blunt awl to punch out a sentence. He read it quickly from left to right.

In the last, Kashmir Lal admitted, what I am today is due to the Barille system and Louise Braille is God for me and remembering such souls is keeping them alive.

Harish Monga, Asstt. Secretary, Home for the Blind sharing his experience of associating with the blinds for the last four decades said, the donors have different priorities today.  Besides donating to any other institution, they should also come forward to help the Home for the Blinds, which is being run purely on volunteer donations.