"Mrs. Khoorshed B. Gharda, a philanthropist resident of Mount Abu proved to be the archangel of the visually challenged. After loosing her first husband, Mr. Framroze Merwanji, she married Mr. Burjor Gharda, who expired soon after. Unfortunately Mrs. Gharda's two sons, Phiroze and Noshir predeceased her, and in their memory she donated her sprawling  three-acre property at Mount Abu to the National Association for the Blind, (NAB), Bombay. Hence, the centre is named Phiroze and Noshir Merwanji Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind." Thus India's first full-fledged rehabilitation centre for the blind was born. An adjustment  centre is the first and the foremost step in bringing and breathing new life into the blind after she becomes blind. On the first day of August  during the monsoon of 1967
    Mount Abu, together with the blind of the world salute the charitable soul of  this Archangel of the Visually Challenged for her everlasting gift to the blind rehabilitation centre.On the first day of August during the monsoon of 1967, the Centre was opened for comprehensive rehabilitation of the blind to help them lead a fuller life. Rehabilitation means to train the blind to live and do all that can be done by a sighted person. At the time it was the first such Centre of its kind in the country. The objective of the Centre is to help the blind client, without discrimination of caste, religion, or sex reach their maximum potential in spite of their handicap. This objective can be seen to be fulfilled by many of the former students who have been able to achieve their goals. There are also innumerable examples in India today which proves that the blind can do as much as the sighted. Among those present at the inauguration were Mrs. Coomie P. Merwanji, Dr. Rajendra T. Vyas, then Chief Executive Officer of the NAB, Capt. H. J. M. Desai, Hon. Secretary, NAB, Mr. Jagdesh Patel, Mrs.  Bhadrabehn Satya, and others.

       The first batch consisted of 20 trainees. Under the guidance of the NAB, from the very beginning five basic training sections were started, namely, rehabilitation; braille and communications; vocational training; light engineering;  and home economics. Rehabilitation means training the blind to adjust to their condition, personal management and grooming, use of the white cane indoors and outdoors. Braille is the touch script for the blind, and essential for the blind to get ahead in life. In home economics normal household duties such as cooking, laundry, looking after the home, etc are taught. In vocational training the blind are introduced and taught various handicrafts such as chair caning, doormat weaving, making of bags, etc. In light engineering the blind are taught to work simple fly presses, lathes, punching machines and drilling machines, and motor rewinding. All these sections continue till today. Within a year agriculture training was started, but was discontinued in the 1980s due to a lack of rainfall. From the beginning the trainees were encouraged to go and mingle within the broad society and seen in this rare black and white photo are the trainees attending the Republic Day parade for the first time at the Polo ground in January 1968, The second batch consisted of 48 trainees. The third batch consisted of 27, only women trainees. In the early years, training was only of about six months, but under the advice of the NAB and other experts in the field of blind welfare this was changed in April 1971 and students were allowed to continue training for a longer period until they became adjusted to their disability and were able to make full use of their training and rehabilitation after they pass out.

                     The NAB from the beginning set up an influential committee of management whose first chairman was
 Shri Arvind Narrottam Lalbhai, the well known industrialist from Ahmedabad. Others on the committee included Mrs. Queenie H. C. Captain (NAB) as vice-chairman, Capt. H. J. M. Desai and Jagdish K. Patel as honorary secretaries, and Mrs. Bhadrabehn Satya as honorary director. A local administrative committee (LAC) was set up to look after the day to day functions of the Centre, whose members included Dr. Rajendra Vyas, Mrs. Coomie P. Merwanji, Thakur Devi Singh, Babu Ramchandra and Pervez Merwanji. Mrs. Merwanji became chairperson of the LAC in 1968-69, later chairperson of the committee of management in 1978-79 and continued in these positions until her death in 1998. Due to the lack of good communications during those early days, the NAB entrusted the day-to-day management of the Centre to its Gujarat State branch based in Ahmedabad, which function was later taken over by the Blindmen’s Association (BMA) now Blind People’s Association (BPA), of Ahmedabad. However, in the late 1990s the NAB(I) again took the Centre under its direct supervision.

            During the first year the then Governor of Rajasthan, Sardar Hukum Singh visited the Centre and immediately agreed to becoming Patron of the Centre; this has been followed by governors since then. Ministers and senior government officials from Rajasthan, Gujarat and the union government visited the Centre in the first year setting a trend which has continued over the years.   In the second year of the Centre’s existence the union government sanctioned a grant of Rs. one lakh for the construction of another building, which became the current school building and the principal’s and administration offices. With  help from other donors, including the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, and the government of Rajasthan, the building, was completed in 1974-75. By the end of the second year a total of 100 students (73 men and 27 women) completed their training and were sent on to other institutes for the blind in Mumbai and Ahmedabad for further training or pre-employment training. Over the years many new rehabilitation course have been started and some closed down keeping in view the changing economy. A dairy, which would complement the agricultural activities, was started in 1978-79 with a gift of five Jersey and cross-breed cows and necessary dairy equipment as a donation from the Christoffel Blindenmission, of Germany, Fig 2. Later a gobar gas plant was introduced to produce gas from the effluent of the cows. From the agricultural activities vegetables and fruits were produced, which helped in augmenting the diet of the students, Fig. 3. The surplus from both the agriculture and dairy were sold in the local market. Unfortunately, both these activities had to be closed down in the late 1980s due to poor monsoons resulting in a shortage of water and lack of funds.
      
After April 1971 training was increased from six months to nine months, and was later in the early 1990s increased to 12 to 18 months in order to give the trainees greater proficiency for self-employment. New skills were introduced to the light engineering course in 1988 with the introduction of drilling and related machines. An electric motor re-winding course was started in 1998 with the instructor being sent to the Blind Persons’ Association in Ahmedabad for training. This activity continues today and is a source of income to the Centre, Fig. 4. From this section two former students have obtained jobs in an electrical motor factory in Ahmedabad. In 1998-99 candle and chalk-making was started, these products, particularly the chalk sticks are popular with the schools in Mt. Abu. In 2003 the manufacture of liquid soap and phenyl was initiated. In 2005 another course was started, book binding, which again is very popular, particularly when the academic year begins. To those who are not aware, the blind can also use computers with the help of special software called Jaws, and in 2002 computer training was initiated. In 2006 the Satyam Computer Company donated seven computers which are very popular with the students. However, a basic minimum of literacy is required for the computer course − there have been cases where students not being able to read or write wanting to learn computers! Music is very popular with the blind, and the Centre in Abu is no exception. Since the last five years the trainees have given innumerable performances at various functions in Abu. Thus, the blind have a wide choice of rehabilitation schemes to train on, any one or more of which could be of use to them when they pass out.  The Centre had a principal, Mr. A. A. Sheikh alias Amar Panj, who successfully steered the Centre from 1971-72 till 1986-87 and put it on a firm footing. The current principal, Mr. Vimal Kumar Dengla was appointed in 2003.  Well qualified and visually impaired he is an inspiration to all the students.Over the years many of the old buildings on the campus had been renovated. The first was the hostel building which was renovated with a donation of Rs. 3 lakh from the Indian Oil Corporation and a grant of Rs. 2 lakh from the NAB(I), Mumbai. The kitchen and storerooms were renovated with the help of a generous donation from Mr. Mukesh Modi, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahadav Nagrik Cooperative Bank Limited, Sirohi. A donation of Rs. one lakh from the Jamshed and Shirin Guzder Trust, Mumbai created the braille and audio library which is expected to be of help not only to our students, but also to other blind students in Rajasthan and surrounding states. The Centre has been gifted a braille printer from the K. P. Singhvi Charitable Trust. The staff quarters were renovated in May 2007, again, with the help of Mr. Modi, and others.In their own way the blind can play most sports that the sighted can, and the students of the Centre have shown the way. The blind are as keen on cricket as the sighted and play with the help of a ball which produces a rattle sound when it moves. In 1989-90 the Centre was runner-up in Blind Cricket tournament of Rajasthan which was held in Abu, which was repeated by our students in 1995, Fig. 5. In 1994 the Centre was the runner-up of a Kreda Parishad organised by two Rajasthan blind sports associations, held in Jaipur. The Centre won the Mahadav Mehta Trophy for Blind Cricket in 1996. In 1997 the Centre qualified for the West Zone draw held in Mumbai, but were eliminated in the first of three rounds. In 1998 two players from each blind institute in Rajasthan were selected for the Rajasthan team and Hariram Rabadi and Bharat Patel were selected from the Centre. In 1998-99 the Centre was presented an athletics trophy by the Lions and Lionettes Club, Jaipur. In 2006 the Centre sent a contingent to the Blind Games held in Udaipur, organised by the Rajasthan Blind Sports Association and sponsored by the Sanjeevini Society. Other sports activities that the blind play at the Centre are sack races, shot put, breaking the mutka, musical chair

      A donor has recently presented to the Centre an electronic-beeping football for the blind, however the students are yet to be trained to play with it. In July 2002 a middle school, standards 1 to 8, for blind children was started. Recognition has been obtained from the Rajasthan Board. Teaching is done through the braille script and audio (tapes, CDs) tools. Two students externally passed the 10^th standard examination with the help of the Centre. Outstanding Students Award from the Mt. Abu Municipality were received by three of our students in 2006.By the early 1970s the Centre began to take part in public competitions and in the year 1972-73 the music students won the first prize in the open music competition. A list of major prizes won by the Centre or its employees are:-
                                                            Some prizes won

§         Certificate of best employer, Social Welfare Department, Government of Rajasthan, 1977-78

§         Certificate of best work for the handicapped, Social Welfare Department, Government of Rajasthan, 1988-89

§         First prize, march past, Republic Day 1987

§         Summer Festival, Mt. Abu, second prize stalls,1995

§         Best organisation, Social Welfare Department, Government of Rajasthan, 1996

§         Certificate of merit, World Disabled Day, Government of Rajasthan, 1996

§         Rajasthan State Award, Best Handicapped Employee, 1977-78 to Teacher, B. K. Thapa

§         Mt. Abu Municipal Republic Day 2004 award, to Hostel Superintendent, Mrs. Virubehn Sampat,

§         Rajasthan State Award, Best Disabled Employee, 2004-05 to the Principal, Vimal Kumar Dengla

§         Best Principal Award, Rotary Club, Mt. Abu 2005 to the Principal, Vimal Kumar Dengla

§         Best Teacher’s Award, Rotary Club, Mt. Abu 2005 to Teachers, Amrit Prajapati and Sunil Sharma

§         Alpiawala Award for Professional Social Worker, National Association for the Blind

(India), 2007 to former Hostel Superintendent, Mrs. Virubehn Sampat 

 Till May 2007 some 1,418 students have undergone training and rehabilitation, and the trades/professions they have gone into are as varied as from any institutions that educate the sighted. The alumni from Mt. Abu include a teacher at a blind school in Varanasi and Banda, music teachers, a village sarpanch, physiotherapist, clerical profession, telephone operator, stenographer in NTPC, Allahabad and many others − they are all an inspiration to future students of the Centre.