Blind Vision
There are no colours
no clear contours
no night or day
no long and tedious plans
no great aspirations
no hurry no real worry
it’s a world of serenity
of placid calm
it’s the world of the blind.
What they can't see still exists for them
surely they have their own images
they live by the hour at most by the day
forever together in twos or threes
hand in hand, arm in arm
complementing faulted faculty.
Their pure laughter moved me no end
singing songs poking fun
they came in
sat together and ate their meal
while I relished their appetite.
I came back thoughtful
into the world of vision
only to realise
what we - the able-visioned
severely lack is the blind vision.
I wrote these lines when I visited the home for the blind the first time ever. My late wife’s mother had planned to take cooked food for the inmates of the home on the occasion of her first death anniversary. The entire experience was not only humbling and purifying, one could even feel something spiritual about it. Or else, how did the visual impairment of these hundred odd boys not dampen their zest for life, their ability to laugh and enjoy their meal? What stood out clearly was that you didn’t have to be bodily complete to live a full life. They had energy beyond the normal which was manifest in their ability to turn their handicap into a meaningful existence. Perhaps the absence of visual faculty is perceived as a handicap by us, the so called normal people. Their world may not have real images but some images are surely there. What they cannot see still exists for them and they go on with their lives happily. Within the precincts of their `blind vision’ they have evolved a world through their imaginative sense of application. I asked a blind boy the time of the day. He lifted the lid of his special wrist watch, touched the hands on the dial and announced seven twenty. Another boy repeated the drill and said, “ Sir, you want the correct time ? It's seven twenty two!” He was dead right.
It was not the the skill of reading the brail watch or the accuracy of time that touched me. It was his will to excel and announce the right time that gave me glimpse of the extraordinary !
There are no colours
no clear contours
no night or day
no long and tedious plans
no great aspirations
no hurry no real worry
it’s a world of serenity
of placid calm
it’s the world of the blind.
What they can't see still exists for them
surely they have their own images
they live by the hour at most by the day
forever together in twos or threes
hand in hand, arm in arm
complementing faulted faculty.
Their pure laughter moved me no end
singing songs poking fun
they came in
sat together and ate their meal
while I relished their appetite.
I came back thoughtful
into the world of vision
only to realise
what we - the able-visioned
severely lack is the blind vision.
I wrote these lines when I visited the home for the blind the first time ever. My late wife’s mother had planned to take cooked food for the inmates of the home on the occasion of her first death anniversary. The entire experience was not only humbling and purifying, one could even feel something spiritual about it. Or else, how did the visual impairment of these hundred odd boys not dampen their zest for life, their ability to laugh and enjoy their meal? What stood out clearly was that you didn’t have to be bodily complete to live a full life. They had energy beyond the normal which was manifest in their ability to turn their handicap into a meaningful existence. Perhaps the absence of visual faculty is perceived as a handicap by us, the so called normal people. Their world may not have real images but some images are surely there. What they cannot see still exists for them and they go on with their lives happily. Within the precincts of their `blind vision’ they have evolved a world through their imaginative sense of application. I asked a blind boy the time of the day. He lifted the lid of his special wrist watch, touched the hands on the dial and announced seven twenty. Another boy repeated the drill and said, “ Sir, you want the correct time ? It's seven twenty two!” He was dead right.
It was not the the skill of reading the brail watch or the accuracy of time that touched me. It was his will to excel and announce the right time that gave me glimpse of the extraordinary !
