Armed with everything they learned over the 45 days prior to the day, the 13 graduates graced the halls of NABK on the 10th of November, making up the 322nd batch of mobility trained trainees. They filed into NAB-K’s conference room, one by one, and took their seats alongside the friends they knew and the ones they made along the way. Shifting in their seats with anticipation, they awaited the chief guests of the day, Dr. Samina F. Zamindar (MBBS, MS), a doctor of Ophthalmology and Mr. Somshekhar and Ms. Latha C Rao, both General Council members of NABK, who all arrived shortly after and took their seats on stage.
The ceremony commenced at 11am with Ms. Pramila welcoming everyone present to the event and introducing the chief guests. Following this, Ms. Nagaveni read the report of the batch, detailing the progress of the batch over the course of 45 days and the various steps of the training process. The chief guests’ address was made by Dr. Samina F. Zamindar, who gave anecdotes of wisdom and inspiration from her own life, often slipping into various languages to ensure that her message was thoroughly understood. She detailed how, when she first came to Bangalore, she was met with many job rejections over and over again, but didn’t let that deter her spirit. “I flipped all those ‘NO’s’ and chose to see it as ‘ON!’ I’m ON for the best!” She encouraged the trainees to also stay motivated in the face of hurdles and never allow it to dampen their resolve.
When she opened the floor to questions, she was met with a plethora of inquiries and doubts about visual impairments and their possible treatments. She answered them all, owing to her expertise and knowledge, which were received with nods of understanding and appreciation by the trainees. Encouraged by her responses, the trainees asked many more doubts that they had and finally thanked her for her clarifications and patience. This was followed by many of the trainees expressing their gratefulness for their trainers, because of whom they felt more confident and secure in their own abilities to handle themselves and their affairs. They were then awarded their certificates by the chief guests, thus officially becoming graduates of the mobility training program.
The day’s events came to a close with the vote of thanks delivered by Ms. Sumitra, which was followed by lunch. They all shared one more meal together in the lunch hall, before embarking on their journeys back home, braced with their training to stand on their own two feet and find their way in the world.
