I
have written this short write up on behalf of a boy named Vishnu and
narrated it in first person. So, Here it goes:
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Hi, I am Vishnu, born and brought up in Kannur city of Kerala.
This
city is famous among tourists for its 'St. Angelo or Kannur Fort' built
by Portuguese people in 1505 A.D. after the visit of Vasco da Gama's
here in 1498 but I have not seen it yet and perhaps will not see it in
this life time.
No, no, it is not that I don't want to see, the sea waves hitting the boundary walls of this fort,
it is because, I can't see.
But I didn't knew about this inability of mine, till I was able to understand it and decipher the related consequences. Till the age of 4 or 5 years, I felt like a normal kid while playing with my mates,
but then,
I started realizing that I am bouncing in more surrounding things than my friends.
I asked my mother and she explained me in the simplest possible way, that I can't see like other kids.
I wondered, what do it means, to see?
Is it a special power in others or I am deficient in something which is so normal for others.
They used to say that it is day time or night time,
but I couldn't understand it, as I have no sensation for light in my eyes.
Till this day, I don't understand this world in visuals, rather I sense and feel everything and everyone around me by smell, sound and touch.
This was shocking for many of my friends, when I told them, that their smells are as distinct as their names and I remember them wondering that do they really have odour.
One day someone asked me, "how beautiful I am" and I said, "you are as beautiful as your voice and as attractive as your smell."
Anyway, now a days she calls me his boyfriend and I call her my walking stick.
Let me be more specific, my optical nerves are dysfunctional due to some anomaly during my birth,
which my mother regrets, till this day and so do my father, but without an iota of deviation in their dedication and love towards me relative to my siblings.
But this deduction in sensory quota has bestow me with special powers, which anyone with eyes doesn't care about. In the Hindi movie, 'Andha-dhun', Ayshumann Khurrana, the main protagonist says that, 'Being blind brings the focus necessary for an artist' and I completely endorse that line.
I am not a disable person, but a special person with special powers, which people with eyes can't experience. As the saying goes that 'Visual can be deceptive' and this is exactly what I practice. I am not fooled by the colorful appearances and deceptions of this world, rather I carry my belief and world in my hands.
Currently, I am a studying for Masters degree in English Literature at India's best institute i.e IIT Madras, Chennai.Though, it was a bit rough during my school days but now my learning curve is much sharper and the credit goes to the technology.
In the school for special kids, I studied using Braille but now, I seldom use it. My android smartphone has accessibility option, which reads its screen and help me do everything, including using whatsapp, same as you do. Similarily, my laptop can read every text document aloud for me and typing on laptop does not need eyes but hands, you will know this, if you also type or have seen a typist. Moreover, I enjoy movies, as some of you used to enjoy in 20th century using audio cassettes.
At last, I want to say that seeing is just a sensation, which is not limited to eyes on the face only, but every organ of yours has its own eyes. Close your eyes and you can feel your surroundings with crystal clear details. Your sense of smell will return to compensate your visuals, if you start using it and so do your skin touching the world around you.
In concluding remarks, I will recite, what the poet 'Musafir' wrote:
I wondered, what do it means, to see?
Is it a special power in others or I am deficient in something which is so normal for others.
They used to say that it is day time or night time,
but I couldn't understand it, as I have no sensation for light in my eyes.
Till this day, I don't understand this world in visuals, rather I sense and feel everything and everyone around me by smell, sound and touch.
This was shocking for many of my friends, when I told them, that their smells are as distinct as their names and I remember them wondering that do they really have odour.
One day someone asked me, "how beautiful I am" and I said, "you are as beautiful as your voice and as attractive as your smell."
Anyway, now a days she calls me his boyfriend and I call her my walking stick.
Let me be more specific, my optical nerves are dysfunctional due to some anomaly during my birth,
which my mother regrets, till this day and so do my father, but without an iota of deviation in their dedication and love towards me relative to my siblings.
But this deduction in sensory quota has bestow me with special powers, which anyone with eyes doesn't care about. In the Hindi movie, 'Andha-dhun', Ayshumann Khurrana, the main protagonist says that, 'Being blind brings the focus necessary for an artist' and I completely endorse that line.
I am not a disable person, but a special person with special powers, which people with eyes can't experience. As the saying goes that 'Visual can be deceptive' and this is exactly what I practice. I am not fooled by the colorful appearances and deceptions of this world, rather I carry my belief and world in my hands.
Currently, I am a studying for Masters degree in English Literature at India's best institute i.e IIT Madras, Chennai.Though, it was a bit rough during my school days but now my learning curve is much sharper and the credit goes to the technology.
In the school for special kids, I studied using Braille but now, I seldom use it. My android smartphone has accessibility option, which reads its screen and help me do everything, including using whatsapp, same as you do. Similarily, my laptop can read every text document aloud for me and typing on laptop does not need eyes but hands, you will know this, if you also type or have seen a typist. Moreover, I enjoy movies, as some of you used to enjoy in 20th century using audio cassettes.
At last, I want to say that seeing is just a sensation, which is not limited to eyes on the face only, but every organ of yours has its own eyes. Close your eyes and you can feel your surroundings with crystal clear details. Your sense of smell will return to compensate your visuals, if you start using it and so do your skin touching the world around you.
In concluding remarks, I will recite, what the poet 'Musafir' wrote:
"Jinko dikhta nahi, sirf wo hi andhe nahi hain jahan mein 'musafir',
Wo aankhon wale jo dekhte nahi, tadad yahan zara unki jyada hai"
"जिनको दिखता नहीं, सिर्फ वो ही अंधे नहीं हैं, जहाँ में 'मुसाफ़िर',
वो आँखों वाले, जो देखते नहीं, तादाद यहाँ ज़रा उनकी ज्यादा है।"
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Penciled by:
Ajay Chahal 'Musafir'
Chennai, Bharat
Such a beautiful article.... Thanks a ton for writing this, Ajay Ji. Keep writing and keep inspiring us. Inspire us to see what we have been blinded for.
जवाब देंहटाएं