To create awareness on the challenges faced by the visually challenged and to raise funds for a ‘talking library’, a fund-raising event was organised in Salem.

The unique part of the event was that the guests were asked to dine blindfolded. Dinner was served for them and they were blindfolded to have ‘dinner in the dark’.

The event was organised by Lifelicious and Salem City Ladies Circle. N.Manjoo Shree, founder, Lifelicious, said, “the talking library will be set up for the Tamil Nadu Association for the Blind and they have been making efforts to set up the library specifically for the visually-challenged persons. The library will cost about ₹ 2 lakh. The funds will be utilised to get audio books, computers, headphones and other audio devices, and also to get Braille books.” Bollywood jewellery designer Farah Khan Ali was the chief guest of the event.
 

The guests were blindfolded for about 30 minutes. Ms.Manjoo Shree said that the event would help people understand the challenges faced by the visually-challenged persons and empathise with them.

Ms.Manjoo Shree said that through the charity event, they were able to raise the required funds for the library. She added that the library would be set up in Salem and similar events were being planned at places like Coimbatore.

M.Shekar, principal of a school for the visually-challenged run by Tamil Nadu Association for the Blind at Ayodhiyapattinam, said that the library would help them train and educate students for the computerised world.
Today, computer knowledge was essential for employment or for any other purpose and this library would help students gain the requisite knowledge, he said.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/dining-blindfolded-for-a-cause/article30497605.ece