Not taking this ‘short-cut’ road, Sukrit Khatri and Karan Nagpal of St Stephen’s College wanted their assignment to be original and hence chose a topic rarely picked up by any researcher — their own classmate. The two First Year students of Economics analysed their friend Nipun Kumar Malhotra to file a report for their English paper on “society and individuals”.

Nipun is suffering from arthogryposis, a rare condition that causes multiple joint contractures and is characterised by weakness in the muscle, particularly in the arms and legs. What struck Sukrit and Karan about Nipun was that despite all odds he carries with him an air of “optimism and confident energy”. “We could not have found a better way to see how society moulds ‘special people’ and how they in turn mould stereotypes in the society,” says Karan.

Sitting under a tree in the college, the three look perfectly at ease with each other. “Nipun is great fun to be with,” says Sukrit who got the idea of doing the assignment just a week before the date of submission last month.

Nipun had refused to be interviewed initially. “I told them that I am an ordinary boy, but they refused to listen to me,” he says.

English teacher Natasha Vaishist says the best thing about the research is that it is done in a “practical manner as opposed to the usual emotional, heart wrenching portrayal of differently-abled persons”. The assignment on “Individual and Society” has interviews of Nipun and his mother Priyanka and a thorough analysis of the problems faced by them.

“We have not provided any solution except for offering an explanation that any person reflects the society and vice versa. If studying in St Stephen’s has brought confidence in Nipun, it may also mean that it is because of his confidence that he got through the selection process in the first place,” explains Sukrit.