It's a Tuesday morning, and 16-year-old Bhumika is kneading dough for rotis. Her hands move slowly and unevenly as cerebral palsy makes even this simple task an effort of balance and patience.

Her sister sits beside her, ready to help if the dough slips or her grip gives out. Studying in Class 8 at her local government school, this is what Bhumika's mornings look like now. She rolls dough, boils water and makes her favourite noodles. Most of all, she waits to go back to the place that helped her learn to do all of this. 

Tuesday used to mean something else. Twice a week, Bhumika would make her way to an inclusive education centre a short walk from her home in Mazdoor Camp, Okhla Phase 2, Delhi — run by ASTHA India, a not-for-profit that helps educate children with disabilities. 

Asked what she liked about going there, her answer was simple: "They treat me well and they teach me how to use a computer, which is fun!" 

She'd sit at a keyboard and practise moving a mouse, opening a folder, closing it and opening it again, until her fingers understood what her brain already knew. Then came the part of the week she looked forward to most. "Once a week we are taught football and basketball. I enjoy sports and my favourite player is Dhoni," she says. 

The rest of her week falls into a rhythm she can recite without thinking: "I go to school the rest of the days." She attends Class 8 at her local government school four days a week, and spends the remaining two days at the centre. 

Ask her if she misses her beloved centre, and she doesn't take long to answer. "Yes, ma'am. I miss it a lot. I have friends here who understand me and my teacher is very kind."

But that centre has been shut for more than a week now. 

The night the centre burned

On the evening of 23 July 2026, a fire broke out inside the centre. It was around eight o’clock at night, and since the centre had already closed for the day, there was no one inside. Neighbours soon noticed the smoke, opened the doors and began trying to put out the flames with water. 

Lakshmi, a community volunteer who lives just a few houses from the centre, was among the first to know. Her children were playing nearby when they noticed the smoke. "Our kids came running, saying smoke was coming out, that there was a fire," she says. 

By the time she reached the centre with water, the smoke was already too thick, and there weren't enough hands to put it out fast enough.

Around 30 people from the community stayed back for three to four hours, using the fire extinguisher available on the premises and salvaging whatever they could. Lakshmi and another mother, whose children with disabilities learn at the centre, stayed the entire night after that, without being asked and without being paid.

"They didn’t have to stay all night, but they did because the centre means a lot for these families for whom help is not easy to access," says Pratik Agarwal, Executive Director of the NGO, who oversees its daily operations, from enrolling children to ensuring they get what they need each day.

Nobody was hurt. But almost nothing inside survived.

By morning, the room was black with soot. On one wall, a rainbow the children had painted together was still faintly visible underneath it.

That rainbow survived the fire. Now, you can help bring the colours around it back. Your support can turn this soot-covered room into Bhumika's classroom again, and give 85 children a place to return to.

Donate To Rebuild Their Home

What 85 children lost in one night 

For Bhumika, the room held one of her first opportunities to learn how to use a computer, the one she hoped might help her become a teacher someday. "Ma'am, I want to be a teacher and help children like my teacher helps me now,"........

© The Better India