Saturday, November 12, 2005

Oh Child...

It was a busy morning. I was going to my office in a jam packed bus , standing in between two people with my neck, hands and legs in a very odd position as if I am learning kathak. I thanked my kathak tutors profusely and was lost in thoughts of what i have to do that day.

At that moment a small girl roughly around 2-3 years of age dressed neat, listening to music with headphones and talking animatedly to her mother got into my attention.

Interested, i moved close to her to know what she was telling her mother. She was talking in a very low voice that i cant hear, but i can see her writing something.

I focused on it, it was the name of some months written in very childish way, at that moment her mother said "Ok good write April...."

She dint react, her mother asked the girl to look at her mouth and said "April" again, now the girl started to write it as "Au" and started to think with the pen in her mouth.

I laughed at her thinking she doesn't know the spelling of April.

Now her mother asked her to see her again and said "April" just by moving her mouth and not saying anything else(no sound). There was a sudden spark in the child's eye and she wrote "A p r i l".
After finishing "April" with a triumphant face she called her mother to show that. But her mother was busy helping others to buy tickets without paying attention to her. The child called "A mmm aa" but no sound, just movements of lips i moved closer to hear her .

She called again "amma" iam sure there is no sound i cant hear her.

Yes, oh my god, she is deaf and dumb. And what was there in her ears was not a Walkman as i thought it to be but a hearing aid.

Yes , till now she hasn't heard her mother's voice,she hasn't heard her brother neither her father call her name nor heard birds singing for her.

She is not heard by her mother calling "AMMA" with her sweet voice. And above all the child doesn't know that she can do all these(hear and talk).

What a loss?

God why did u punish a small child with such a big loss. Didn't u find corrupt politicians, thieves and others who are unfit to survive in this world.

What else i can do ? I kept my hands on her head, as if blessing her and thought "if i have done any good deeds and if at all i have any credits for it let all the credits go to this poor child and help her to come back to normal".

My heart was very heavy.

Later i came to know from her mother that the child lost her capability to speak and hear when she was six months old and there is always a hope that she will get back to normal.

She is now currently enrolled in a school for Deaf and Dumb some where near Adayar and she is doing well.

I got down in my stop and after a few minutes of walk thinking, i thanked God for having given her flowers,oceans,rivers,sun,moon everything thats the part of this nature for her to speak and hear and above all a Great Mother.

Lets pray for all such children to get well soon.

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