Christmas came a few days early for around 50 children undergoing treatment for cancer.
For more than two hours on Thursday, wearing Santa hats, they sang and danced their hearts out and engaged in fun indoor and outdoor games.
This Christmas Carnival was held at Premashraya, the residential facility for underprivileged cancer patients at Tata Medical Center in New Town’s Action Area I DC Block.
A nine-year-old boy from Siliguri was one of the participants. He kept dancing to the peppy Bollywood numbers played by the console.
The boy suffers from acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. He was diagnosed with cancer in March this year and came to the New Town hospital in April. “These celebrations bring a semblance of cheer to our lives,” said his mother who, like many other guardians, also swayed to the music.
“I love cricket and dancing. Ravindra Jadeja is my favourite player,” he said.
Nearly everyone in the auditorium had Santa hats on and even those who were sitting could be seen tapping their feet or waving their hands as peppy dance numbers played out one after the other.
A three-year-old girl with a bandaged right eye swayed to the music but from her father’s lap. The girl, from Bangladesh’s Dinajpur district, had a surgery to remove her right eye on Tuesday.
“She had a tumour in the right eye. She has already undergone six chemotherapy sessions in the run-up to the surgery,” said her father.
Some of the children were in wheelchairs, tubes and channels inserted into their noses and wrists. They tapped their feet and moved one hand to the beats.
The carnival, presented by Rotary Club of Calcutta Visionaries, had outdoor activities too.
A toy train was the top draw for many. A range of gifts — from jackets to smiley balls — awaited the children. The nurses and other staff of the residential unit were also seen dancing. Many of them filmed the dance. “We do not know what will happen to these children tomorrow. But we want to make their today as memorable as we can,” said Sudeshna Dutt, the head of operations at Premashraya.
“We have been organising this for several years. But every time, it is so overwhelming,” said Vidhi Chandak of the Rotary Club of Calcutta Visionaries.
