A blind man’s walking

Have you ever noticed a blind person boarding a bus in a city like Delhi? While returning back from my place of work to my home this is a common sighting. The moment I see such a person, goosebumps spread their tentacles all over my body. You know why? For a moment it strikes to my mind that if someday I would be in his place what will happen to me. Only mere thought of that is enough for me to force me into a state of temporary despair. But at the other moment when I find a grin is appearing at lightening speed on such a person’s face with cracking of joke by some of his fellow passenger, is a moment of eternal happiness for me.

When a well lit world at stroke of an unfortunate turn transforms into a deathly dark hollow, how such a person adapts himself to that! At one moment the whole world was his domain and at the other instance he stumbles at every step he takes. But then it is the cane which comes into his rescue, which tells him silently about the obstacles in and around so that he can adjust his steps without tumbling.

I found a strange correlation between this and in one normal human being’s life. For a kid the whole world is his playground, but we start to rein it by differentiating acts which involved risk and that which do not. Thus he takes the lessons of his life and grows up. This is not a one time action rather it is a continuous process. At every step he develops certain expectations from his family and friends and he feels frustrated when those do not fulfill. Then he learns the skill to realign his expectations with that of the society and, thereby, regaining his confidence.

However, is this realignment costs him something? Yes, sometimes it results in an unfathomable chasm, never easy to forget and even sometimes a unbearable pain but not possible to share.