A friend indeed!

It couldn't have been a more inoppurtune time to bug Arun. It was 5:50 PM and my daughter's flight was about to land in 5 minutes and I was still about 20 minutes away from the airport. Curtsey: traffic jam.

My heart started a vigorous disco. Thanks to the cellular phone service provider, I just couldn't contact the Kingfisher office.

A person who would rather do her own task than ask for favor, I hesitatingly called up Arun (after all a CEO and Executive Director is a busy man) to enquire if he could send someone to the airport to wait with her till I arrived.

He did not disappoint me.

I felt so humbled and blessed to have a friend like him, a very busy man, who dropped everything to rush to the airport to be with my daughter. He deemed it fit to go there instead of sending one of his executive knowing very well that Guls wouldn't be comfortable with a stranger.He waited there till I reached and completed the hand over formalities.

Thanks a bunch Arun!

Not to forget the refreshing tea his wife, Meenakshi served.

I feel truely blessed!

Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy

It's been a month since the ‘Bee’ family choose my balcony to set up their home. You can well imagine my fright; a sting is not what I cherish. They lorded over my favorite place and turned me out of my cozy corner.

Gradually, they started invading the bed room too. The insect repellants failed to ward them off my territory. They made me feel like a tresspasser in my own home. This went on for a couple of days until I recalled how our gardener would create smoke of dry weeds and leaves to ward off the bees.

I, too, started doing the same. I have to make them understand that they better lay off my territory. (Assertiveness pays). I thought this tamed them.

But No, they turned out with vengeance when, one day, I didn’t put up the repellant. I guess it was then,that, one of them managed to enter my bedroom but somehow hurt itself and could not make it's way out. Cautiously I picked it up on a paper and contemplated going near the hive to put it near it's family. It was not until late afternoon that I, finally,managed to fathom some guts and tentatively went near the hive to leave it there.

A swarm of adventurous but angry bees, hell bent on revenge, flew up, ready to attack me when I went near the hive. Flaying my arms around blindly to ward of the insects,I managed to, somehow, delicately place the injured bee near the hive and ran indoor.

Watching the circus from my bedroom window, I saw the agitated bees all around my balcony, some trying to get in through the window mesh (They reminded me of our political goons, and their desperate act to extract their pound of flesh at any cost).

The activity lasted for a couple of hours until sense prevailed and they released that they have an injured kith to look after.(Reminded me of a road accident scene where the injured lay moaning in pain while the mob got busy scorching buses and damaging property).

I guess they realized that I have actually saved one of their brothers. From that day onward, they have stopped bothering me and I have stopped using bee repellant. That was last week.

Inshallah!!!

It's was a lesson for me. We tend to forget the very hand which had helped us one, but animals/ bugs never forget that helping hand.

Humbling experience

Yesterday I accompanied my socially conscious friends to a school for the visually impaired.

I was left open mouthed by the optimism, the revelry and gratefulness of the kids there. The experience left me feeling upbeat and buoyant. What I learnt there is that blind and visually impaired people can learn to do almost anything, except maybe fly an airplane.

All it needs to make them independent and ‘normal’ is to empower them with a sense of confidence and self-esteem. What I also learnt there is to treat them as any other ‘normal’ kid. If people pity them and goes out of their way to help them and burden them with too much attention, this subtle message, can actually, ruin a child. The child would then start feeling that they are too “handicapped” to learn to do things for themselves.

I met Gayatri, a 7 year old kid who is visually impaired since birth. To add to her agony, she wasn’t taught to walk either. Her mother would leave her sitting in one corner when she went out to work while her drunken father lolled in another corner. Although she has twisted legs, her spirits is as sprightly as her words. With physiotherapy, she is slowly learning to walk. I am sure, it wouldn’t be long when she can run around the compound too.

Sheetal, a 12 year’s old girl, was not visually impaired at birth. She was a bright, vivacious girl like any other girl her age. Her blindness is the result of domestic violence. The acid, which was meant for her mother’s face, splashed on her face, impairing her for life. That happened when she was just 5. She has never seen her parents since then, neither have they. They have dumped her from their life. This little body is the epitome of forgiveness and optimism. In fact, she is one of the toppers in her class.

I met and interacted with many more kids. And they left me feeling incompetent, crass and crude. Here I am, blessed with the ability to see all things beautiful, yet, sometimes, I fail to notice the beauty and, instead, grunt about the mite. Those kids at Jagriti, have never seen the daylight, yet they are buoyant and optimistic. They are not disabled, it is me who is disabled… disabled in spite of having all the ability to function. Those kids taught me not to pity another human being.

I learnt to not to think of people as disabled.Rather, they are people who happen to be differently abled!