Jungtina Jamir
I was waiting for one my friend to come out from her hostel and meet me. I strolled aimlessly on the hostel garden and that’s when I saw this girl sitting on a bench. Since I did not have anything to do I walked up to her to say ‘hi’. It was only after that I realized she was visually challenged.
My friend caught up with me and we went out for late lunch. She told me the girls story, the one I said ‘hi’ to.
Few days passed and I was still thinking about the girl. Eventually I realized that it was not about her in particular but about people who are visually challenged, those who are physically challenged!
How is it like to be in total darkness 24/7? I don’t know. How can I know or feel like one of them? I can only imagine. Yes, only imagine….from the eye I call ‘the third eye’…
……First there was light.
I know it seems strange but that is the most terrifying memory I, to date, possess. That intense light was neither warm nor comforting as you people seem to believe. It was cold and rigid, near blinding me. I was born.
The next thing I remember, I have been told, saddened my family beyond light and beyond reason. I was taken to a room and plunged into darkness. I don’t know how long I laid there, my skin becoming cold in the air, my voice becoming hoarse from crying. I must have stopped at some point or I would still be crying. Slowly, I grew accustomed to the darkness and accustomed to the silence. It was just me and darkness.
I remember my first feeding, the room, two hours later was still in a shroud of darkness; No thicker and no thinner than before. In that darkness, I felt a nuzzling against my lips, instincts of human young took their place and I suckled until I was satiated. The teats remained for a time then disappeared, at which point I fell into a fitful sleep.
Years have passed……
I awake, again, in darkness.
