Spinning on wheels: Meet a unique DJ

At first glance, 26-year-old DJ Aamish aka Varun Khullar looks like your regular disc jockey — making the crowd dance to his tunes, and enjoying himself. If you move a little closer, you see something that’s completely unexpected: this DJ, who’s making everyone groove, is sitting in a wheelchair! What’s his story? A brief conversation reveals that this man is a pioneer. He’s India’s first disabled DJ, and only the second such person in the world. Varun, paralysed from waist down after an accident in June 2014, dug himself out of a pit of misery with the help of music. He recalls the first day when he learnt, after regaining consciousness at the hospital, that he could never walk again: “I was [at first] in denial, but then my mother started crying and I couldn’t see her shattered like that. I suddenly felt this wave of determination in my body, and I told her, ‘Everything is fine. I am fine.’ The memory is still fresh in my mind.” Through two years of physiotherapy, what kept Varun strong was his music — as a student, he was an amateur DJ at friends’ parties; then he got some training in Djing; and after the accident, this skill gave him an idea of what the future might look like. “I used to spend my time reading and researching on how to be a DJ,” he says. With time, he began to socialise, got a driving licence, and wanted to make Djing his career. The hurdles were many, but Varun was accepted into a DJ academy and then found work. Since September, he has been the resident DJ at a fivestar hotel in Delhi. “I’ve had the best nights of my life here,” says Varun. “People appreciate me for my music, not because I’m in a wheelchair.” VARUN KHULLAR

I didn’t want people to hire me because I’m in a wheelchair, seeing me as a hapless victim. If I got a job, I wanted it to be for my talent and hard work ,DJ

PHOTO: RAAJESSH KASHYAP/HT Varun Khullar performs at a five-star hotel in Delhi