Bengali play on differently abled woman's fight against odds

A Bengali play on the life and struggles of Jeeja Ghosh, a social activist with cerebral palsy, will be staged here soon.
The story will be partly real and partly fictional, with Ghosh playing herself, director of theatre group 'Katha Kalam', Esha Kar, said.
"Jeeja's story mirrors the discrimination and condescending attitude that has become all too common for India's large number of disabled people. In their everyday lives, they are fighting to get acceptance which is long overdue," Kar said.
An alumnus of Presidency University and Delhi University, Ghosh was offloaded from a flight in 2012 because a private carrier ruled her unfit to fly alone. She took the airline to court and was awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh in a landmark judgment.

The 47-year-old, who never let her limitations come in her way, said she does not mind being described as a person with disability.
"It is a tag for which I am not to be blamed. Then why should I be described by other terms? Disability has been imposed on us by societal barriers and we are always working to surmount the barriers," she said.

The tentative title of the partly fictional play is 'Bristi Bheja Ek Jibone'. It will reflect the rains and sunshine in the life of a cerebral palsy affected, Kar said.
"Jeeja is an acclaimed performing artiste and she had previously been part of our stage production Nirbhaya, based on the brutal Delhi gangrape incident," the director, who is also a mother to a differently abled son, said.

A film on a Ghosh's zest for life has bagged honours at the 64th National Film Awards. 'I am Jeeja', a 28-minute documentary, traces her journey since childhood and talks about various aspects of her life, including career and marriage.