High note for Behlihomji

"The first family of music was honoring the cause of deaf children, who initially cannot hear music, but with the help of training and good hearing aids they start to learn to dance and sing,” Mary Behlihomji, trustee and honorary chairperson of The Central Society for the Education of the Deaf (CSED) communicated to Parsiana. She was felicitated on April 24, 2018 with the Deenanath Mangeshkar Award for her work with deaf children through the Society. The Mangeshkar family organizes the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan Awards to honor achievers in their respective fields. Behlihomji shared the stage with actor Anupam Kher, songstress Asha Bhosle, sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and lyricist Kavi Yogesh among others. Behlihomji notes that so impressed was Kher with the work being done at CSED that he immediately informed her on the stage that he would donate his prize money to the organization.

Mary and Jimmy Behlihomji

Guests at the Shanmukhananda Hall were welcomed by Hridaynath Mangeshkar (brother of singing legends Lata Mangeshkar and Bhosle and son of classical vocalist Deenanath) while Nitin Gadkari, central minister for road transport and highways, shipping and water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation gave away the awards.
The Society runs a school located in Agripada in central Bombay that "trains hearing impaired children to listen, learn and speak and subsequently gets them enrolled into schools for children with normal hearing,” notes Behlihomji. Speaking to Parsiana on June 13, she noted that the school has 70 children at present. Open to children of all castes and religions, education is given free of cost, as is a nutritious snack each day. A school bus picks up and drops the children to key railway stations in Bombay. "There are no Parsi students… in my 50 years in this field I recall only two Parsi students… according to me, the incidence of child deafness in the community is very low… you do have age-related hearing problems, though,” explains Behlihomji.
"Working, teaching and lecturing full time at CSED,” since 1971, Behlihomji’s profile notes that in 1966, her parents, Rhoda and Adal Parakh had set up a unique institution dedicated exclusively for educating deaf children in the "Oral Method” under the auspices of CSED. She gives the background: her sister Roshan had polio as a child of 10. The Parakhs were able to get physical aids for the affected child due to Adal’s overseas posting. "There were many aids in India for those with visible handicaps like polio in those days. On their return to India, Rhoda and Adal felt they wanted to do something for those with a non-visible handicap, hence they thought of aiding children with hearing disability,” she explains.
Besides the oral school, an infant training center Maitri, opened in 1999, admits, tests and fits infants between six and eight months with hearing aids. "Parents receive counselling on handling and coping with their hearing impaired infant. Language and speech is introduced into the child’s silent world,” she adds. A cochlear implant rehabilitation center offers therapy to children with implants while its Brain Stem Evoked Response Audiometry Clinic offers screening and neonatal evaluation of potentially hearing impaired infants.