Born as an angel on the tenth day of December,
when the maple leaves were basking and shining in the glory of the balmy sun,
she spreads her radiance all around, inviting smiles from whoever looks at her.
So cherubic is her countenance that one
forgets about all the worries of the world on witnessing this friendly child,
but, soon their smiles are turned into expressions of sympathy and pity…..
And that is when they see that although God
had carved her out of His finest moulds, destiny had something else in store
for her. It was during her birth that control over her nerves was lost,
resulting in partial disfigurement of her limbs and mild mental retardation.
Yes, she is my first cousin who is five years
younger to me and is full of life, to say the least. So unique is my emotional
connect with her that despite the lack of regular communication all these
years, we are unquestionably fond of each other.
This, I realized over the past two years since
I have been putting up with my uncle’s family, where I get to see a splendid
harmony that the members have succeeded in striking with an aim to lead a
normal life.
Many names as she has, Cherry is what we call her out of love, although each one of us has
different salutations that express our adoration towards her, and she responds
to all of them with twinkling eyes !
If she happens to meet you once, she will
never forget you and will talk about you often enquiring about your next visit.
I often become the subject of her wrath when I
don’t speak to her immediately after I’ve reached home after a long day at
work. But, anger is fleeting for her. So, as soon as you go near her or hold
her hands and whisper in soft polite notes, she is all smiles in no time !
And if you want to please her beyond ordinary,
just gift her a beautiful pen and a writing pad, or a CD of her favorite
numbers or a nice story-book. That’s all she ever demands as a child.
I find it a way of expressing my gratitude to
God for making difficult times easier for me here, by attributing the possibility
to her presence.
There have been times when I have had a heavy
heart but unable to share it with anyone, when I sit beside her for a couple of
minutes, the heaviness takes a swift ride to some other lands. Its divine
intervention that she enjoys the same songs that bear meaning to me, has the
same taste for food, things and people and there is a parallel link in our
thoughts which we can both identify with and sometimes talking through eyes is
enough.
It makes me proud to have the same frequency
of thoughts as hers and in the same I find solace amongst all the turbulence
that surrounds me.
Educated till tenth grade in the Sophia Opportunity High School, beyond
which her impairments ceased to support her in becoming one of us in this
competitive world, fate decided to keep her away from malice, lest she becomes
too civilized to sustain her purity and goodness. It had been a journey full of
photographic memories for her where the school staff had not only been
exceptionally cooperative and understanding but also provided her some of the
most beautiful moments of her life like winning a race, or performing the Rainbow Dance or getting featured in the
annual school magazine !
Substituting and filling for this lack of any
standard training, fatherly guidance and wisdom rushed to her rescue. Her
enlightenment is often astonishing as to how easily she can distinguish the
good from the bad which men of sound wisdom can’t. She can comprehend and
converse in almost five languages leave apart her excellent communication
through gestures, expressions and body language. She is sensitive towards human
pain and gets hurt by harsh words easily.
If I’m not being exaggerative, she is adept at
typing and documenting data with such expertise that you might want to avail of
her services now and then. Possessing an excellent grasping power, she is ever
keen to learn new activities.
Painting the world fairer with her challenging
survival, she is a storehouse of inspiration in the daily humdrum of my life in
which we often fail to see beyond the inadequacies….
