You don’t have any Active Subscription. Subscribed with another email. Logout and Login with that one. Your active subscription(s) Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more.
Unlock these with Subscription Products you've access to Additional Subscription Benefits Need help with your subscription. Updated - April 23, 2026 03:52 pm IST Bengaluru-based Shashwat Ghosh with parents Malvika and Swapan Ghosh during Durga Puja. Shashwat likes dressing up.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Shashwat Ghosh, 25, wakes up at 6 am every day and takes a shower. A routine is important to him. He runs marathons to keep fit.
Having worked at a hotel, he runs a small baking business within his Bengaluru apartment complex, and has orders coming in on a WhatsApp group called Baker on the Block, created by his mother. He delivers the orders by evening. Every night, he prepares the next day’s menu with his mother’s help.
Now on a break from the business, he is learning about managing money, digitally, on his parents Malvika and Swapan’s insistence. He finds intricate calculations challenging. Shashwat is autistic, his mind processes things differently.
When neurotypical people meet Shashwat, his speech might sound garbled; his insistence to be physically close while interacting can annoy some people, especially women. His parents hold awareness and sensitisation drives in their apartment complex to acquaint others with his condition.
One day, a neighbour found him spinning around on his bicycle in his apartment’s walking track, rapidly mumbling, with his hand bleeding. She rushed to alert his grandmother. Shashwat lives with his parents and grandmother, and finds it difficult to communicate to others about bodily injury.
“My husband and I are always worried about what will happen to him after us,” says Malvika.
Published - April 18, 2026 07:00 am IST The Hindu Sunday Magazine / Autism / parent and child / disabled / habitat and housing / housing and urban planning / housing plots / housing co-operatives / human interest / India Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences.
They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles.
If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
