Like Jasmita, there are several other young visually impaired young car enthusiasts who are keenly looking forward to participate in the 11th car rally organised by the Ahmedabad Round Table and Blind People’s Association (BPA) tomorrow.

“We are given clear instructions in Braille and all we need to do is to instruct the driver according to the guidelines provided to us. Though we have not been specifically trained, but our friends who have participated in the rally earlier, told us how to go about it. We just followed their instructions in the test and were selected,” says Jasmita.

“The rally is not about speed, but only to demonstrate the strengths of the visually impaired to the members of the civil society. It is all about good coordination between the driver and the navigator, who is essentially a blind person,” says Dr Bhushan Punani, Executive Director, BPA.

According to Dr Punani, they have charted out a map with clear instructions on time, distance, and landmarks in Braille, which will be given to the navigator.

“The competition involves reaching the destinations in the prescribed time. They’ll lose points for reaching either before or after the correct time limit. Of course there will be marshals every five to seven kilometres to ensure that the contestants stay on track. We had about 78 participants last time and this time around, we are expecting about 100 participants,” he further added. The first rally for the visually impaired was started in 1994 by the young car enthusiasts, who formed the Ahmedabad Round Table.

“We were any way associated with BPA and the idea of arranging a rally for the blind came from a colleague, who had participated in Himalayan Car Rally,” said Manish Mehta from the Ahmedabad Round Table.

“The idea found support from the Association as well as the people and now this is being replicated in other cities like Surat and Mumbai,” he added.