In the indu-strial wasteland of Reay Road, Magazine Street Kitchen is something of an oasis. It's half past ten on a Monday morning and the exclusive fine dining restaurant is closed. The housekeeping staff is going about its morning chores and two members of the kitchen staff are working in solitude while one of them seems to be packing something in a plastic foil. Yusuf Shaikh, 21, is the only other member of the staff, chopping vegetables deftly and carefully putting them away. Shaikh is part of the team that makes meals for the restaurant's staff. He has cerebral palsy. When he speaks, you barely understand the words, but he understands what you tell him perfectly. Until recently, it hadn't even occurred to the 20-year-old from Govandi that he'd be able to commute without the help of his mother. In September this year, Shaikh graduated from Goregaon's Culinaris Cookery Institute and is now interning with Magazine Street Kitchen.

Rajat Ramteke, 19, has Autism. Pic/Abhishek Mande Bhot