Visually-impaired Indore students offering aarti to Lord Ganpati leave devotees spellbound

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Altogether 300 hearing-impaired students of Indore's Deaf Bilingual Academy in Madhya Pradesh offered aarti to Lord Ganesh as part of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The aarti was offered in sign language. It was perhaps the first experiment of its kind wherein such a large number of students were offering aarti to the Ganpati idol at the Puja Pandal installed at their institution, claimed an organiser. 

Students from KG to higher classes were giving soulful renditions making hand gestures while offering prayers to Lord Ganesh. The aarti was offered amid the blowing of conch shells and recitation of kirtans.  The hearing-impaired children were making gestures through sign language, which was quite captivating. The Puja Pandal was tastefully decorated and it was based on the Chandrayaan-III moon mission.    

Sanjay Pandit, the trainer, said the students were first taught how to express their devotion to God using sign language. "The normal people perform aarti by singing. But for the hearing-impaired students, we took the help of sign language to provide training to them. The children started picking up the nuances offering aarti through sign language in just three or four days of rehearsal. But, they became perfect after several days of practice."