New Delhi: It was a particularly hot and humid Monday afternoon at the Delhi High Court, where the doors of the newly-launched Sagar Express remained invitingly open for the rush of lawyers and litigants at lunch break.
As soon as the clock struck one, a throng of lawyers made their way to the café popular for dishes from South India. A rapidly growing queue of customers in the backdrop of hurried chatter and loudly called-out orders marked the arrival of rush hour.
Nearly a dozen neurodivergent persons with conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and intellectual disabilities, among others, have found, at this café, not just jobs but also a nurturing community.
On stepping inside the café, visitors are greeted by a warm and charming Arunima Bhaduri, who manages a kiosk of a non-profit, Shaurya Foundation Trust, at Sagar Express. Hand-made paintings, coasters, brownies, cookies, mugs, and water bottles made by neurodivergent persons are sold at the kiosk adjacent to the café’s cash counter.
Meet the team
Bhaduri, 35, hails from Kolkata, West Bengal. Her neurodivergence is known as dyscalculia, a “specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers”. Besides, she has been diagnosed with a developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia. Significantly, these conditions have not held Bhaduri back from earning two Master’s degrees, one in history and the other in tourism studies.
During her free time, she loves listening to Hindi and Bengali songs, especially those sung by her favourite artistes, Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh.
“After coming here, I feel good. I like moving around. We will also get our salaries tomorrow,” Bhaduri told ThePrint on Monday, showing off the different kinds of cookies on sale at her kiosk. “It gets crowded sometimes, but we are making good progress with our sales. Sometimes, customers come to the kiosk when we are winding up for the day. However, we can manage the work by ourselves.”
Bhaduri also shared that she has picked up new skills, such as painting, on the job and made new friends on the way.
Apart from her, Hardik and Vikhyat, both 24-year-olds and diagnosed with ASD, work as sales associates in the café. Hardik uses an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device to navigate social interactions. Vikhyat is also an AAC user and relies on the Awaz app, which non-verbal persons with special needs use to communicate effectively with others.
Sabhay, 22, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and a learning disorder, works as a cashier at Sagar Express and loves to bake.
“I can make cakes, cupcakes, brownies. Also, I enjoy watching films by Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. My favourite film is ‘Sultan’,” he said.
Another cashier, Jagdish Chauhan, acts as a facilitator, assisting the neurodivergent workers in carrying out their daily duties. Neetu and Ashwini are the other disability support workers who train and guide the neurodivergent workers on the job.
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More about initiative & reactions
Launched on 25 July, Sagar Express is the culmination of a collaboration between the Sagar Ratna chain of restaurants and Delhi-based Shaurya Foundation Trust (SFT).
Senior advocate Ravi Gupta and his wife Rani Gupta set up the SFT in 2010.
“Shaurya is the name of my son, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 1.5 years old. The foundation is named after him. We started with a facility in Maharani Bagh with the purpose of empowering persons with developmental disabilities and later expanded to Palwal, Haryana. We also hope to prepare them in such a way that they are self-sufficient and equipped with life skills,” Ravi told the Print.
Being the parent of an autistic child, questions such as what would happen to Shaurya and who would take care of him led to the creation of the foundation, said Ravi. “Specifically, it (SFT) enables people with developmental disabilities, especially those with intellectual challenges, above the age of 16 years,” the SFT official website states.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Sciences-run medical research agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many ways, with no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not deficits.
“Neurodiversity refers to the diversity of all people, but it is often used in the context of autism spectrum disorder and other neurological or developmental disorders such as ADHD.”
Originally coined by Australian sociologist Judy Singer, the term neurodivergence refers to a non-medical umbrella description of people with variations in their mental functions.
Zainab Saleem, an onsite psychologist who works closely with the trust, said, “The more you are acquainted with them, the less you see them as labels and more as humans in their own right. They are just existing, full of charms and quirks.”
She also said that while, on the whole, most customers behave decently, a few instances of impatient guests creating a fuss when having to deal with neurodivergent staffers have arisen.
“We just ask for the patience of customers, educate them about their (staffers’) condition, and tell them ways in which they can assist. There are also signs placed that encourage customers to behave politely,” Zainab said.
Sagar Express is already garnering praise among different members of the legal fraternity.
Delhi-based Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) lawyer Ayush Samaddar told the Print, “I recently had the opportunity to visit Sagar Express, which has opened in the court. Having worked in Defence Colony, lunch at Sagar Ratna has been a regular affair. I am glad it has now opened at the high court and can offer more variety of food to lawyers who usually remain busy running between the courts.”
“I especially appreciated the effort by Shaurya Foundation Trust to employ the specially-abled to work and earn with dignity and respect. Truly, a commendable step,” Samaddar added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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Good initiative!