Upasana Makati

A midnight thought on how a day in the life of a visually impaired looked like gave birth to the idea of White Print, India's first English lifestyle magazine in Braille. Driven by the zeal to work for the community, especially the non-sighted, Makati left her plush job at a public relations agency in 2012.

"It was my visit to the National Association for Blind in Worli, Mumbai that firmed my resolve to start White Print. I was surprised to see that an association working for the visually impaired had nothing to offer them to read in their own language," says Makati.

After three months of research and eight months to register the name, White Print finally came into being in May 2013. "I didn't want it to be a charity venture and so I approached corporates for advertisements," says Makati and it entailed "explaining to a sighted individual how a non-sighted individual would look into it" was key. The idea of having advertisements in the magazine was clear – to embrace diversity and innovate and propel a new form of advertising, where sound had to do the talking.

The magazine is a 64-pager and covers politics, music, film, technology, art, food, travel, success stories of the common man among others. There is a reader's section too where readers are invited to share their poems, articles, opinion pieces or anything that interests them.

From individual subscribers to hospitals, national libraries and organisations that cater to the visually impaired, White Print has a readership of 10,000+ and prints ~300 copies a month. While creating create a welcoming space for the non-sighted via White Print, Makati also creates awareness about the visually impaired through her children's literature.

In 2016, Makati also launched Tactabet - Braille Tactile alphabet books (English and Hindi) to enable integrated learning for children with low vision. She also recently launched a short music film, B for Braille (available on YouTube) to promote Braille literacy in the country.

Considering the time is ripe for social enterprises, Makati believes, "it is important to follow and run after your passion. Rest will follow".