The final scene of Takeshi Kitano’s 2003 Samurai masterpiece, Zatoichi, ends with the hero singing, ‘Even with my eyes open/I can see nothing’. Uday Deshpande understands the philosophical depth of that song. After all, the Padma Shri Awardee will be guiding the 11 visually-impaired students from the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind (VMSB), Tardeo in one of the unique displays on the opening day of this year’s edition of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

The journey for the coach first began in the early 1990s. Mahesh Mhatre was still a student under Deshpande when he first joined the Victoria Memorial School as an instructor. “As someone who enjoyed working out, mallakhamb was an opportunity to combine multiple facets such as yoga, strength training, and flexibility,” the instructor at the school reveals.