National Cricket Tournament for the Blind is in its last leg at Shivaji Park

Mumbai: The batsman effortlessly wraps up the last over of the match with a sixer, bringing the score to 381 for no loss.

Amidst cheers from teammates and spectators, he walks up to his partner, bumps his fist, and they walk away with their heads held high. The scene is typical of any cricket match, but with one difference: the players are visually challenged.

Peter Holley Watching Fernando Albertorio stroll down a crowded footpath into downtown Washington during a recent lunch hour, casually sidestepping pedestrians running errands and crowding around food trucks, you'd have no idea he is legally blind.

Albertorio easily blends into the flow of human traffic swirling around him, which is even more remarkable considering that he is doing so largely without the use of his limited vision.

AMAR Latif plunged into unchartered territory when he started Traveleyes, the only holiday company whose trips open up new worlds for travellers by pairing those who can’t see with those who can.

Yet since 2005 thousands of blind and visually impaired people have seized the chance of its sensory and sociable trips to discover places where once access for them was off limits.

Now thanks to entrepreneur Latif if they fancy rambling along the spiralling paths of Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel high among the Peruvian Andes, they can.

A cab, a meal, a new outfit, bank transactions are just a few screen taps away with smartphones. But navigating the digital world can be slow and cumbersome for a visually-impaired person.

Identifying this problem, entrepreneur and engineer Vijay Raghav Varada has developed a Braille keypad called 'Tipo’ which can be attached to smartphones to improve accessibility.

Vijay has been interested in making devices accessible to the blind since 2014 and it was while working on a project on Braille laptops for keyboards that he learnt of the smartphone problem.

Experts say that celebrating Diwali with care can prevent accidents such as visual impairment, hearing loss, breathing problems among others.

“The spark from fireworks can damage eyelids and eyebrows. The eye may also lose its moisture due to the smoke emitted by crackers,” said Dr Shashidhar, ophthalmologist, Minto Eye Hospital.

He added that an eye specialist should be consulted whenever there is an injury instead of attempting self-medication.

“Children under the age of 15 years should not be allowed to play with crackers that may cause injuries,” he added.