PANJIM: A historic ‘Blind Car Rally’, featuring visually impaired individuals as navigators with braille maps as their guides, stole the show on Day 2 of Purple Fest 2023, an event held to celebrate diversity. Sighted individuals served as drivers in this innovative exercise that displayed the true meaning of interdependence. This first ever accessible rally was flagged off by Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai and State Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities Guruprasad Pawaskar. Television actress, Pooja Bedi was the special guest.
Before the rally, the day kicked off with a Zumba session, to help warm up the delegates.
A cultural programme was hosted by children and Persons with Disability (PwD) from various schools, including Shree Kamaleshwar High School, Pethechawada, Goa. The performers, many of them in wheelchairs, presented the Goan folk dance Fugdi with enthusiasm. Students of the New Dawn Ashadeep Special School performed a Marathi folk dance and the Gujarati Samaj Special School, Margao, put up a stunning drama performance called ‘Upkar’.
There were many performances by students of other schools, and the audience included students from Lourdes Convent, Saligao, SFX, Mapusa and Shree Ram Vidya Mandir.
