Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Thriving on the Spectrum, the podcast dedicated to empowering and supporting young adults with autism on their journey towards a fulfilling life.
Speaker: I'm your host, Arpata Mohan, and together we'll explore invaluable insights, expert advice, and personal stories that shed light on the unique opportunities and challenges young adults with autism encounter.
Speaker: So if you're a parent, caregiver, friend or ally, join us as we explore possibilities to help young adults with autism thrive.
Speaker: In today's episode, we will listen to three residents of Ananda, an assisted living facility for autistic adults in Gurgaon, NCR.
Speaker: Our conversation with them sought to understand their experience of living and working away from their families.
Speaker: We are grateful to Preeti Sivaj from Ananda for facilitating these conversations.
Speaker: Kavita Krishnamurthy, the co-founder and co-director of Cambridge Academy, narrates this episode.
Speaker: So over to her.
Speaker: Let's meet our first guest, Sarabjit.
Speaker: Hi, Sarabjit.
Speaker: And thank you very much for joining us in this podcast today.
Speaker: Sarabjit stays at Ananda Monday through Friday and goes home for the weekends.
Speaker: He talks to us about the daily routine at Ananda, his friends and what they do together, and how he navigates between his familial home and Ananda.
Speaker: Thank you so much, ma'am.
Speaker: I'm glad to be here.
Speaker: Yeah, lovely.
Speaker: Lovely having you here.
Speaker: So, we'll ask you a few questions regarding Ananda.
Speaker: Yes, ma'am.
Speaker: So, do you stay in Ananda, Sarabjit?
Speaker: Yes, ma'am.
Speaker: I stay in Ananda.
Speaker: You're here all the time or you also go home?
Speaker: I go home on Fridays, ma'am.
Speaker: So weekends you're at home and the other days you're in Ananda.
Speaker: Yes, ma'am.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And what do you do in Ananda?
Speaker: I wake up in the morning.
Speaker: I go for a walk.
Speaker: I get dressed.
Speaker: I have my breakfast.
Speaker: We watch a bit of TV.
Speaker: We work in the kitchen for about some time.
Speaker: Putting all the utensils to rest.
Speaker: And after that, I go to the community hall.
Speaker: And I work with the doctors there.
Speaker: And we worked there for about an hour in sorting out who wants what medicine and what the prescription says.
Speaker: Then after that, I go back.
Speaker: I do some yoga for about half an hour, after which we have lunch.
Speaker: So we're all together.
Speaker: And we share our food.
Speaker: And we talk to each other.
Speaker: After that, we go to sleep.
Speaker: We go for a rest here, stuff till 2.15.
Speaker: After that, I come to the hall and I work with the computer program children who are working there with the teacher.
Speaker: So I'm with them and we have a very nice time.
Speaker: And
Speaker: After that, I come and do some work in other building.
Speaker: In the workplace.
Speaker: And there we sort out the files and we reason with each other on what their ideas are.
Speaker: And we put them into motion.
Speaker: Close the file.
Speaker: and we do some work on sorting out or rolling the balls of wool.
Speaker: After that, at about 4.15 to 4, I come back to hang out, main building.
Speaker: There, 4.30, we have a team.
Speaker: We all together.
Speaker: And after that, we go for a walk.
Speaker: We watch TV for a while.
Speaker: We do some exercises there with the teachers and the students.
Speaker: After which we go for a walk.
Speaker: Then we have our dinner and we get some sleeper to the next day.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And lovely.
Speaker: I really have a nice sense of what happens in Ananda thanks to the way you've described it so beautifully.
Speaker: Thank you, Sarabjit.
Speaker: Thank you very much.
Speaker: Tell me a little about, do you have friends in Ananda?
Speaker: We all are friends.
Speaker: We talk together.
Speaker: We understand each other.
Speaker: We know what they are trying to say.
Speaker: And we make friends.
Speaker: So do you go for outings together?
Speaker: Do you go for movies or to the restaurant?
Speaker: Yes, we've been to movies together.
Speaker: We've been to restaurants together.
Speaker: Mary took us to a restaurant down the road.
Speaker: And we had a very nice time.
Speaker: We had doshas there.
Speaker: And we really enjoyed ourselves.
Speaker: And we went to see one movie with Amitesh, Neelam and two boys, me and me.
Speaker: And we had a very nice time and we enjoyed ourselves.
Speaker: So when you go back home on the weekends, say Friday, Saturday, Sunday, is there anything that you miss about Ananda which you don't get at home?
Speaker: At home, we go to relax and all.
Speaker: Here we come to work and at home we get understood by what we've been trying to work at and relax with mom and sister and all.
Speaker: So we have a nice time.
Speaker: Wonderful.
Speaker: Thank you so much, Sarabjit.
Speaker: You've really given us a good understanding of what happens in Ananda.
Speaker: Thank you very much, it's a good idea.
Speaker: Our second guest, Angat Kampani, stays and works in Ananda.
Speaker: He talks to us about what he likes in Ananda.
Speaker: A synopsis of what he says in Hindi follows at the end of the conversation.
Speaker: What do you like in Ananda?
Speaker: What do you do in Ananda?
Speaker: What do you do in Ananda?
Speaker: Cycle chalate ho.
Speaker: Do you like to cycle?
Speaker: Yes, yes.
Speaker: Do you like music?
Speaker: You like music, song, yes, yes.
Speaker: Okay, where are you from?
Speaker: What were you doing before the session?
Speaker: What were you doing?
Speaker: Exercise session time.
Speaker: Okay, nice.
Speaker: And today, what did you eat in your breakfast?
Speaker: What did you eat in breakfast?
Speaker: Bread, butter, omelette and coffee.
Speaker: What does it look good in eating?
Speaker: What do you like to eat in your food?
Speaker: Do you like chicken?
Speaker: Do you like paneer or dalya?
Speaker: What do you like?
Speaker: What do you like?
Speaker: Do you like chicken?
Speaker: Do you like paneer?
Speaker: Do you like dalya?
Speaker: Do you like wheat?
Speaker: Chicken?
Speaker: When you live in Ananda, do you miss your family?
Speaker: Do you miss your family?
Speaker: Yes or no?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: You have a lot of friends in Ananda.
Speaker: Let me write down and give the choices.
Speaker: Amitesh.
Speaker: Or Rohan.
Speaker: Or Rohit.
Speaker: Who is your name?
Speaker: Rohan.
Speaker: Rohan.
Speaker: Rohan.
Speaker: Roh
Speaker: And Rohit.
Speaker: And Rohit.
Speaker: Angad, what do you like to watch the tab?
Speaker: What show do you like on YouTube?
Speaker: YouTube, Kapil Sharma Show.
Speaker: You like it, right?
Speaker: Do you like it?
Speaker: Kapil Sharma Show.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So nice talking to you, Angad.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Bye-bye, Kavita.
Speaker: Bye, Angad.
Speaker: Bye, Angad.
Speaker: Angad, just coming from finishing his exercise, spoke about how he likes cycling and music.
Speaker: He said he had bread, butter, omelette and coffee for breakfast and that he loves eating chicken.
Speaker: He does not miss his family and has friends, Amitesh and Rohit, in Ananda.
Speaker: He likes watching the Kapil Sharma show on YouTube.
Speaker: Our last guest, Shivang, speaks about the work he does at Ananda, his aspirations, what he values about being in Ananda, and his take on festivals.
Speaker: Shivang speaks in Hindi and a gist of what he says follows in English.
Speaker: And at the end, a pleasant surprise for the listeners.
Speaker: So Shivang, we want to know that you live in Ananda?
Speaker: Yes, I live in Ananda.
Speaker: But my Gajlola is following Uttarakhand.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Is your first generation there?
Speaker: Yes, ma'am.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So, Ananda, how many days are you here?
Speaker: I don't know, but I don't know many days, many years ago.
Speaker: I was in 2020.
Speaker: I was in 2020 and I was in 2020.
Speaker: And now the time is happening in 2020.
Speaker: So, if I was in 2020, how long have I been in 2020?
Speaker: Yes, three years.
Speaker: So when you came, how was the joy?
Speaker: Tell us about the joy.
Speaker: The joy is a good place.
Speaker: I feel good to stay there.
Speaker: Because I like the things I like, they are one of the things I love.
Speaker: And they are one of the things I love.
Speaker: I don't like to say anything about it.
Speaker: I just want to say one thing that I know that I have heard from audio tape or audio cassette.
Speaker: So that's why I don't like to listen to it.
Speaker: So, people think that what is my thing is my favorite.
Speaker: And for that, I don't have any chance to give me a feeling that that is the first thing I have to do.
Speaker: So, why do I listen to this?
Speaker: That's very nice.
Speaker: This is a very nice presentation.
Speaker: Shivani is from Gajraula, near Delhi, and has been living in Ananda for three years.
Speaker: He likes living in Ananda because his likes are respected and not judged.
Speaker: He loves listening to music on cassette tapes, something that is not frowned upon.
Speaker: He likes the fact that people at Ananda don't force him to move to more current forms of enjoying music.
Speaker: So what do you do in Ananda?
Speaker: I go to Ananda first of all, I work in my workplace.
Speaker: I work in the workplace.
Speaker: I work in stock inventory.
Speaker: foreign
Speaker: foreign
Speaker: foreign
Speaker: What work does Shivang do?
Speaker: He maintains the stock inventory in Ananda, for which he is paid a salary of 1,500 rupees per month, which he feels is less.
Speaker: He would like to work elsewhere and has recently found a job with Amazon.
Speaker: He attended a training program and was trained on what Amazon does, online shopping processes, issues that may crop up, et cetera.
Speaker: He also got to know that the founder of Amazon is Jeff Bezos.
Speaker: What do you do in the work?
Speaker: I like radio.
Speaker: I like radio.
Speaker: I like radio.
Speaker: Other than work, what does Siwank do in Ananda?
Speaker: He likes to listen to the radio, especially a radio drama at 8 p.m.
Speaker: called Hawa Mahal.
Speaker: He also attends online music class, walks, goes to the gym, and engages in sports.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Now we have another question.
Speaker: Are you some friends in Ananda?
Speaker: No one.
Speaker: No one is.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What do you say with your assist?
Speaker: I don't have a friend in my life.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Do you miss something first in your life?
Speaker: I don't miss anything.
Speaker: I miss my parents.
Speaker: I'm so far away and I remember them.
Speaker: I think that if I'm singing in my life,
Speaker: I think I can get a lot of money from my parents.
Speaker: I think I can give my parents a lot to give me a lot of money.
Speaker: I can give my parents a lot to give me a lot of money.
Speaker: I can give my parents a lot to give me a lot of money.
Speaker: But I can give them a lot of money.
Speaker: We next looked at the whole area of relationships.
Speaker: Siobhan said he had no friends in Ananda and that he misses his parents.
Speaker: If he could earn about a lakh a month, maybe through singing, he would like to have his parents in a home closer to where he stays.
Speaker: While he could not talk about his personal issues to anyone earlier, he now does so.
Speaker: I hope that I can stay here and work here.
Speaker: If I can do my job, I will deal with a good deal.
Speaker: foreign
Speaker: Speaking about his aspirations, Shivang says he wants to stay on in Ananda and continue working.
Speaker: He wants to be a professional singer who does shows.
Speaker: Kishore Kumar Nights, Ghazal Nights, shows through which he can earn a lot of money.
Speaker: Okay Shivang, you should tell this, do you like to stay here at festivals?
Speaker: Or do you like to stay here?
Speaker: Or do you feel better at your home?
Speaker: foreign
Speaker: Upar means?
Speaker: Upar means?
Speaker: Upar means?
Speaker: On being asked if he preferred celebrating festivals in Ananda or at home, Shivang said he prefers the latter.
Speaker: He doesn't like celebrating Deepawali as he doesn't like the loud noise of the firecrackers and prefers to sit in his room.
Speaker: And now, the surprise gift from Shivang for all of you.
Speaker: Chaltay chaltay merayayayayad rakna kabhi alvida na kehanan kabhi alvida na kehanan bichra hame dilbal bichhara jayay kahi hum agar aur sunisilaghe tumay
Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker: If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you never miss an episode filled with inspiration, support, and hope.
Speaker: On our next episode, we will be joined by the founding team at CLAPS, where we will discuss about community living options for autistic adults.
Speaker: Until next time, take care, stay positive, and keep thriving.
