A Simple Life Shattered by Sudden Storm
Aman lived a predictable routine as a government school student in Mumbai. Each afternoon, he would walk directly to his mother's fruit cart after classes ended. His mother worked tirelessly as a street vendor, earning just enough to sustain their modest household. Aman would sit beside her, helping organize the fruits while enthusiastically sharing stories from his school day. Their existence was humble yet filled with genuine warmth and connection.
The Accident That Changed Everything
Everything transformed one fateful afternoon when Aman turned fourteen. His mother had briefly left to collect lunch from their home, leaving him alone at the cart. In a region known for abrupt weather shifts, a violent gale struck without warning. Powerful winds uprooted a nearby tree, sending it crashing directly onto the boy and the fruit cart.
Emergency services rushed Aman to the hospital with severe injuries. Doctors discovered irreparable damage to his spinal nerves. In one devastating moment, he permanently lost the ability to walk. The physical immobility triggered a profound emotional collapse that would last for years.
Eight Years of Silence and Isolation
For the next eight years, Aman barely spoke to anyone. Losing mobility during his crucial teenage years fundamentally altered his worldview. Every movement became an exhausting burden, but the changing attitudes of people around him caused even deeper pain. He constantly encountered expressions of sympathy, pity, and quiet judgment in their eyes.
Unable to tolerate these painful gazes, Aman withdrew completely into himself. When friends or relatives visited, he would retreat to his room and shut the door. Silence became his only sanctuary, his sole protection from a world that now saw him differently.
A Mission to Restore Dignity and Independence
Stories like Aman's deeply affected the leadership at IGF-India, particularly Sundeep Talwar. The organization refused to accept that a manual wheelchair represented the only solution for young people with mobility challenges. They recognized how such devices imposed both physical and psychological limitations.
The team understood that over eleven million people across India remained confined to their homes for similar reasons. For these individuals, true mobility meant much more than movement—it represented dignity, personal choice, and the fundamental right to live independently.
The Innovative Solution: NeMo Programme
Driven by this powerful mission, Talwar and the IGF-India team partnered with a startup incubated at IIT Madras. Together, they developed a visionary concept: a wheelchair capable of navigating Indian roads like a scooter. This collaboration gave birth to the NeMo programme.
The programme created a motorized attachment that transforms ordinary manual wheelchairs into road-ready mobility solutions. This innovation was designed not merely to restore movement, but to restore equality and independence.
Aman's Remarkable Transformation
When the IGF-India team identified Aman—now in his early twenties—and invited him for training, something extraordinary occurred. For the first time in years, he found himself surrounded by people who shared similar experiences. No one looked at him with pity; no one treated him as an exception. He was simply seen as an equal participant.
Watching others navigate life independently ignited a spark of courage within him. Gradually, he began speaking again. Confidence returned to his voice, word by precious word.
A Mother's Overwhelming Gratitude
On the fifth day of the programme, during the distribution of motorized wheelchairs, Sundeep Talwar and his colleagues—Ravi, Sumana, and Shikha—witnessed their work's profound impact firsthand. Aman's mother stood nearby, watching her son smile, converse, and engage freely with others. She had not seen such expressions on his face in nearly a decade.
Overwhelmed with emotion, she touched Talwar's feet and broke down in tears. She thanked the NGO team profusely, admitting she never imagined her son would live with such hope again.
Creating Active Contributors to Society
Since 2021, IGF-India has transformed thousands of lives through motorized wheelchairs, skill development programs, livelihood support, and financial assistance for surgeries. Many individuals once confined to their homes now work as food delivery partners with platforms like Zomato and Swiggy. Others have become tele-callers, data interpreters, and small entrepreneurs.
These individuals are no longer passive recipients of charity. They have become active contributors to society, earning their livelihoods with dignity. As Sundeep Talwar emphasized, "We are not giving support. We are giving freedom—the freedom to think, to earn, to live independently, and to be seen without sympathy."
Aman's story represents just one among hundreds. Together, these narratives tell a powerful story of lives transformed not through pity, but through genuine possibilities and innovative solutions.
