These children were keenly watching the artists at work. The correspondent interacted with them through their principal and tried to explore how would they understand the art and an artist’s creation. Gursewak and

Harmanpreet, both deaf and dumb, and other three mentally retarded children quickly identified Baba Farid’s painting despite the fact that the artist had merely drawn the outline.

Not only this, they also identified the “shloka” on which the painting was based as birds were also shown in it.

The “shloka” was — “Kaga karang dandheleya sagla khaya mass, eh do naina mat chhoyo phir dekhan ki aas”. When they saw a clay model having religious symbols of different religions they cleverly used their hands and expressions to point out as to which religion the symbols belong. They identified men and women in paintings and sculptures by moving their hands towards moustache and nose.

Ms Prabhjeet Kaur, the school principal, said the hearing impaired children had great interest in painting and other art forms and they were good at painting. She said a student with low vision, Mangal Ram, won a state-level painting contest held at Ferozepore two years back.

She said these children were visiting this workshop for the third time in a row. “They love painting, clay modeling and dry decoration and their works had been put on display at the school building,” she added.

About 15 students of the school were in Mansa these days to participate in a painting contest. The school had three wings — Umang for mentally retarded children, Ujala for blind, and Umeed for hearing impaired.