Blind Bollywood beauty expert ‘shows’ the Mumbai life to visually challenged girls

Sameer Mansuri, an Ayurvedic beauty consultant from Juhapura, though himself blind by birth has ‘shown’ 56 visibly challenged girls from Ahmedabad, Surendranagar and Kutch the high and exciting life of Mumbai. On Sunday, the visibly challenged girls travelled to Mumbai by air, met with some of their favourite celebrities, enjoyed a musical evening, and visited an amusement park before returning back to Gujarat by air.

These extremely happy 56 girls had a dream to fly at least once and Mansuri came along as the man who could make it possible for them. Today at 40, Mansuri has had an extremely interesting journey. After school he decided to run away as he was frustrated with the limitations his handicap put on him. However, life was kind and after becoming an expert of herbs he returned to Mumbai to become a beauty expert. 

Although now a renowned beauty consultant for the Hindi film industry, Mansuri still has a house in Juhapura.

"It was my dream to do something about the blind, when I have means. Thus, the idea was born to take these blind girls and providing them the experience of 'seeing' Mumbai. This event was possible only due to the collaborative efforts of different organizations who whole-heartedly supported us. Out of the total, 25 girls would be from Ahmedabad, 25 from an organization in Surendranagar and 6 from Kutch. Caretakers accompanied the girls throughout the tour.

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He added that besides, giving the girls a taste of the outside world, this initiative was arranged to inspire the girls to do something in their lives. "It is more difficult for blind girls to lead their lives, as compared to boys, and thus they seldom get a chance to explore the world. We hope that meeting celebrities, enjoying the rides and experiencing a city like Mumbai would broaden their horizons," said Mansuri.