( 1 ) Rush hour crowds push roughly for position on the underground train platform. A slight boy looking younger than his sixteen years, was nervous yet excited as he felt the vibrations of the approaching train. It was his first day at the Suraj Academy of music in Mumbai and frightening enough for any teenager fresh from a Patna farm . But this aspiring musician faced a bigger challenge than most because he was profoundly deaf.
(2) Rohan Dev's loss of hearing had been gradual . His mother remembers noticing something was wrong when the eight - years- old Rohan was waiting to play the guitar ." They called his name and he did not move . I suddenly realised that he had not heard," says Priya Dev . For quite a while Rohan managed to conceal her growing deafness from friends and teachers.
But by the time he was eleven his marks had deteriorated and his headmistress urged his parents to take him to a specialist. It was them discovered that his hearing was severely impaired as a result of gradual nerve damage. They were advised that he should be fitted with "hearing suddenly looked black", says Rohan.
(3) But Rohan was not going to give up . She was determined to lead a normal life and pursue her interest in music.