" Ah!",a slight sigh slipped from my lips,as my eyes were being sretched by my fingers,to apply 'kajal' on them.I was standing in front of the mirror,getting ready to go out and face another day.Having finished,i looked into the mirror,at my eyes.A pair of black eyes were staring back at me,having been made darker by the kajal.
As i was still looking at my eyes..., a thought spontaneously arose in my mind...i wanted my eyes to live forever,i wanted my eyes to be useful to somebody else,too,in the once they stop being useful to me.I wanted them to adorn somebody else and serve them,just as they were adorning me now,somebody who really needed them.Yes,i wanted to donate my eyes to a visually challenged person....A silent promise rose in my mind to keep my eyes intact and maintain it in the best possible condition always,no matter what.
I really don't know how this thought arose.Previously,i had once told my mom about it,after which i had totally forgotten about it.Now,today,again it arose in my mind...i don't know the health conditions/criteria to be fulfilled for eye-donation,i don't know who does the process,how its done,i don't know anything about it.I just know that i want to do it.And i know that when my mind sets itself on something,it somehow gets done.
Asif in response to my thoughts,in the evening when my brother came back from work,he was speaking to mom about how many of his colleagues wanted to donate their eyes.So,they were arranging for the chief doctor of the 'Shankhar Nethralaya' hospital( a big,and very well known eye hospital in Chennai)to come and give a talk about the deatails of eye donation at their company.I knew my bro's company followed the concept of 'corporate social responsibility',where they undertake community activities as a team.But i din't know how they got speaking about this topic today.It was co-incidental and surprising.
My heart has always gone out to the visually-challenged(blind people).I could not imagine how they spent their life in darkness.The eye is said to be 'the window of the soul'.By lookin at a person's eyes,you can guage his current state of mind.Eyes silently speak the language of the heart.What we see,perceive and enjoy is solely beacuse of these two wonders.Just think of it.If you had to spend one whole day in utter darkness,your power of vision temporarily pulled away.I can't even imagine it.What would i possibly do? Nothing,enjoy the dark and sleep?but,for how long? After that...,just sit and brood in the darkness? correct..?
But look at these people.I really admire them.A whole life of darkness,beginning at birth for most of them. Imagine,they have never seen a sunset in their lives,they don't know how their very own face looks like,and if you want to describe something to them,how do you do it? For ex,an apple,do you say an apple is a fruit and red in colour?Do they know how the colour 'red' looks like? No,absolutely.
But do you look through and see their confidence,their positive spirit,their courage and determination.They cannot see may be.But they clearly set and 'see' their goals,they 'see' hope shinnig bright,They 'see' that the absence of one of the senses,does'nt make them any less capable or competent.Just look into the day of a visually challenged person,and you 'll get what i am speaking about.
It reminds me.At college,we had a lecturer who was totally visually challenged.She would count the steps she took,as she walked.And she knew exactly at which count to turn left,at which cound to ascend the stairs and at which count to stop.She knew how to reach her place.When Sai Baba would distribute sarees,He would,while giving her,describe the saree's colour,its texture,material etc,she would be so grateful for it.I wondered how these people would perform their domestic activities,eat and other things which we mechanically do everyday.But,she had a silent determination and love for life which worked miracles.She was accomplished in the field of literature and telugu,and so she taught english to the telugu-speaking girls at college,apart from other coll. activities in which she took part.
It made me ponder,was i using all of my latent capabilities to the fullest extent possible,in whatever i did or was i busy blaming situations/people for not getting things done.
I don't know that,but i certainly know that i want to make a difference to the lives of these people in my own way,may be by doing what people usually do - reading for the blind,scribing(they tell the answers,and you write them,during their exams)and later on( after i cease to exist),by donating my eyes to one of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment