Jammu, Oct 07: Specially-abled Priyanka Chahal of Shastri Nagar, Jammu, barely speaks or listens. But she understands everything through the use of sign language.
Until March 2020, she was living a happy life as her daily routine was set: to go to the school with other specially-abled children and pass the evening time with her parents and siblings.
But when the COVID pandemic broke out, her school administration decided to shut her institution due to some personal reasons. The shock of school closure left a deep mark on Priyanka’s cognitive personality.
“Since closure of her school, Priyanka’s overall personality changed as she started getting irritated over everything. She even started using mobile phone excessively that further worsened her mental health,” said Priyanka’s brother, Pranav Choudhary, 33, son of Avtar Singh Chahal of Shastri Nagar.
Due to Priyanka’s declining health, the other members in the Chahal family also started living in a state of tension. So, they were constantly looking for a school for the differently-abled children.
“But we couldn’t find the one in Jammu due to different reasons, including the major one—age bar on admission of the specially-abled children,” Pranav further said.
So, when the COVID pandemic was over, Pranav said, while he was out for a dinner with his family one fine day, he visited a fast-food shop in Kunjwani Chowk, Jammu, where he met a group of differently-abled children selling momos-the Chinese food item.
“As Priyanka was with us that day, she met the differently-abled children with great enthusiasm and remained happy the rest of the day. This gives us an idea where her happiness lies,” said Pranav, adding, “so, we decided to open her a similar set up near our home”.
“Accordingly, we helped her open a new café near our home in Shastri Nagar area—Priyanka’s Café—which has turned out to be a huge hit among the ice cream, cheese and Soya drinks’ lovers,” said a happy Pranav Choudhary, brother of Priyanka Chahal.
What’s so interesting about Priyanka’s Café is that she prepares most of the drinks and the ice creams herself using the automatic machines installed at her café.
Many food bloggers of the country and Jammu and Kashmir in particular have uploaded on their YouTube channels the success story of Priyanka.
“She watches all her videos uploaded on different channels and shows us the same to prove that she is self-reliant now. A smile on her face has made the entire family happy again,” said a happy Pranav Choudhary.
