This is an
incident that happened 20 years ago and I was blessed to be a witness to this
incident.
This was the
time when I was working for an eye hospital in the capacity of an Assistant
Administrative Officer.
The hospital
not only gave vision to many visually handicapped people, it also opened my
eyes to the positive people around me.
As one of
the hospital routines we used to go to villages nearby and conduct eye camps,
identifying people with correctable vision problems. Every weekend we would
travel to villages in the southern states of India and to be very honest, I
always looked forward to these trips as we got to eat outside of the hostel
canteen!
Once, we
undertook a trip to a village in Karnataka. One child, about 7 years of age,
was admitted into the camp for treatment of corneal opacity. The treatment
procedure for this kid was corneal replacement. We explained to the
parents that the cornea that is replaced can get rejected by the child's body
and there was only a slim chance of the child getting her vision. Nevertheless,
if the child is able to see for sometime, then the procedure can be repeated a
couple of times and the chances that the eye will accept the new vision were
high. After explaining all the possibilities to the parents, we asked them to
take a measured call.
The parents
and the child alike were insistent and the corneal transplant was performed.
After a few
days the child's blindfold was removed and she gradually adjusted to the light
around. The following few hours in the hospital was one of unexplainable
happiness, as the child ran around uttering the words, "nanu
nodabahudu" meaning, "I can see".
Tears rolled
down the cheeks of the onlookers, and I left the place as the possibility that
this happiness of the child could be short-lived, kept coming back to me.
A couple of
weeks later, the child was back with the same complaint. The vision was
blurring. I could barely hold myself and thought that the family, and
particularly the child, were going to be distraught. It is one thing to
understand certain things verbally and so completely different to go through
them and come out emotionally unscathed, however strong you may be.
I was
bracing myself up to a show-down which usually happens when things do not go as
per plan. But what greeted me was a composed father and an even more stoic
mother. They consoled each other and decided to wait for couple of more years.
They were not the ones to give up. They were ready to get the same operation
done once more when the child's physical growth stopped, maybe around the age
of 12 -13 years.
As I felt
better and ready to move ahead to my next job, I saw one of the staff talking
to the child. They explained to her that all was not lost and that she should
be hopeful. In an innocent tone, the child replied that she always was hopeful
and that her parents had told her to be positive. "So", asked the
staff, "you are not disappointed that you cannot see?"
The child's
reply is still etched in my memory. "Why should I feel disappointed? I am
happy that now I know what people mean when they say, "the mango is yellow
in colour". I am contented that I could see the world and everything I
liked. I can visualize things when people talk to me about them."
With just
one reply, the child consoled all of us and made us all better human beings!
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