A Humble ode to people like me..

Hmm, its been quite a few days since i contributed anything to this blog section of mine.. Don't know even if some one is reading this or whether it is like one of those infinite piles of pension papers that are put up in the Government offices waiting for someone to read and take action upon..

But who cares if anyone is reading it or not ? Neither do i wish to be a J.K. Rowling transporting you all to a magical world with my writings nor am i nurturing a desire to change the society like the Madhavan of Rang De Basanti.. I am feeling just like a five year old child who is given a mike to speak and feeling like the child who is enjoying chattering over it..

So let me proceed onto my second blog.. Well, first of all i am not writing this because i faced any difficulty or injustice somewhere.. I am not writing this wanting any support from anyone for anything.. I am writing this article just as a humble ode to all those special people like me who right from their very birth have or have been made to perceive this world differently.. I am writing this because i felt there is a need that i write about this.. I am writing this because unlike many of you all i am PHYSICALLY DISABLED.. :)

The article and the content in it is an ode purely for those physically / mentally challenged people like me..

Friends, many a times people like me may be rejected not only on the rights we deserve side of it but also as a very individual with feelings.. We may be hurt, looked down upon just because we are different on the negative side.. We may be laughed at when we take up a challenge to pursue big dreams.. We may be finding difficulties in every walk and every stage of life..

But friends, as i said in my previous blog, more than anything else i feel that every individual has 3 sides to him..
1) The person one thinks one is
2) The person others think one is and
3) The person one really is..

And yes, without any doubt we may be lagging and looked down negatively from the perception of others.. but in no way can that and should that affect the real persons in us.. We are for us and really in every true sense unique.. In every sense and every walk of life, we have an opportunity to lay a path and lead the way for others like us to follow.. Infinite difficulties may lie ahead in front of us.. But then they are infinite opportunities for us to solve and show the people who looked down on us we are special.. The crisis thrown at us are a stage for us to perform and tell others how we are better than them if not equal..

Whether it be Education/Employment/Even a simple matter of getting access to something we really and absolutely deserve.. there will be difficulties/injustice everywhere.. but then after 22 years of my existence as a disabled person i feel there is absolutely no point in shouting at the injustice and asking for equal rights..

There is absolutely no point in shouting at injustice.. Because we are shouting at the people who are normal and against the people who are normal and asking the people who are normal for equal rights.. Will this solve the problem ? Even if does, will it solve all problems of everyone permanently ? One does not feel so..

So what is the real permanent solution to this problem ? In my opinion, the first thing we can do is to accept that we are well and truly inferior to them.. To accept not to them but to ourselves.. We need to understand and digest that we are dependent on the normal individuals or society.. Else we will need to lead a frustrated life all through.. We need to keep cribbing and fighting a loosing battle that we are equal to other people in the society..

But then, we need to decide how long should we feel inferior to them ? How long should we keep facing the injustices ? How do we show the some normal people, who are biased against us, that the real person in us is special and better than them if not equal ?

Well a simple and a straight forward answer to that question would be as long as there is no internal change in the feelings of the so called normal people.. As long as their inner conscience really does not tell them every disabled person is differently abled.. And it is obvious that this is not going to happen overnight.. For nowhere in the history of humankind has change in the attitude of people taken overnight..

And what can cause that internal change ? Who will bring about it ? Shouting in blogs or forming communities or posting the injustice in human rights group will solve that particular problem at that instant.. Friends, we are only finding solutions to problems faced by people like us.. But then we have eliminate the problem itself and that too from its very roots.. We need to build a generation of people and people to come who will not pose the same problems to our children( I mean, younger ones like us) and they are left to fight for rights like us..

So it becomes obvious that the internal change in others must be brought about.. And how is that possible ? How can we bring about attitudinal changes in a person about us when we are the last and the least thing in their minds..?

Friends, i feel it is possible only by self example and through mutual help..We as an individual have to take up the problems ahead of us as a God sent gift and opportunity to excel and bring about a thought to change in others..We need to accept and face every opposition with a smile for it is nothing but something expected.. We need to build a respect for ourselves in the community of normals.. And for that respect to be built, our actions should be the cause.. Our actions, attitude and achievements by themselves should speak of how we are equal rather than our words questioning how we are not equal..

For instance, if a person is in an educational field.. let him/her put in the best effort in that.. That is self-example and now through mutual help we need to highlight that achievement.. And by mutual help i mean not only help from people like us but also through true friends who understand the real us..

The highlight and achivement of each individual may be highlighted in the local area/city/state through media or word of mouth.. And in turn each individual who has gained the respect must be made to lay the path for others like him to follow and earn respect.. Communities and forums online / committees will not solve this 100 % problem effectively.. TV will also not solve the problem as no one has enough patience and time to look at such programs and listen to their stories..

So how can we go about solving this problem of highlighing our achievements ? Again the only solution is not to look at people above us, but to people below us.. Towards people who are in a much worse position than us..

We need to find out people within our society who are in much more difficulties than us and then highlight our individual's achievement to him/her.. By highlighting the achievements, we must not only provide that individual with publicity but we must also entrust him with the responsibility of taking care of the person who is in much more distress than him.. We must encourage him/her to provide his/her own example to that person and inspire him to greater heights.. In that way, we will earn respect and begin to change attitudes..

We need to form small groups of friends in each colonies and organize activities for younger, poorer children.. As today's children are tommorrow's citizens, we need to make them love us.. Unlike their parents who hush them up when out of enthusiasm they question us why are we walking or looking differently, we need to teach through sharing love that we are normal people.. The well to do among people like us can adopt small kids and show openly to the society what we are capable of..

Apart from educational field, even in the work field we can show how different we are.. Without any doubt friends, we are gifted wth an amazing concentration.. And we only need to have a look at our fellow people, who gaze at us pathetically, for inspiration to put in that extra effort.. Their indifferent attitude again must be treated by us with a smile and should fill us with inspiration to work even more harder to eventually break that pathetic look and make that a look of pride and honour..

Emotionally too friends, lets realize that no one in the world can understand the need to respect and love a fellow being better than us.. No one can feel the need for respecting and loving a person and be loved more than us.. So, lets not fill our good qualities with hatred for the injustice meted out at us.. Let's look at it as an opportunity.. let's look at it as an inspiration.. let's look at it to be an opportunity to be an individual who has led his fellow beings to the path of dignity..

Friends, let's realize that we are born to be leaders for our future generation.. Every look faced by us, every word heard by us, every attitude faced by us in this modern era is a challenge for us.. And we need to change it for the better.. Change it through self example and mutual help..

I am sincerely thankful to everyone who has read this entire article. Sorry if i bored you all..

{ By the way, for all those of you who think these are mere words for time pass that will not bear any fruit, well friends let me share something with you all..

There are 600 crore people in this world.. But we are not going to meet all of them.. No matter how long our life is and how large our requirements.. we may at the maximum meet a few 1000 people in and around the place of our living.. And if we can change the attitude of a few erring 100 people in them, then that in itself would mean it'll be changing the world for the next generation living among those few 1000..

And as part of that i hereby would like to express that my friend has done just that.. he has through sheer hardwork and fantastic divine support of his parents and lovely friends come up in life.. He has pledged never to accept reservations that is offered to the physically handicapped and instead felt that he has offered that seat to another student of better abilities than his to take it.. And he rejected attending an interview to the IIT for his Master's program in Electrical Engineering just because it has come under the reservation category and that he was not eligible for it on merit.. But he never gave up.. Very soon, if everything goes well, on merit he will acquire admission into one of the top 15 universities in the world for obtaining his master's degree and from theron in a small way of his own actions hopes to change the world by building respect and love for people like him from people around him.. }