Stranger

This incident happened sometime around June-2009.

 It was the third day of my Diploma course. I was damn too excited taking this course, for the fact that the University was almost an hour (15.5 miles) away from home. I loved the fact that I got to travel an hour & an hour every day.

Well, if you are someone like me, you would understand the simple pleasure of travelling idly and looking at the whole world around buzzing with activity, right? So was I, excited...super excited!

The first two days, were as awesome as I thought they would be. I would go in the auto rickshaw (<--click here if you do not know what I mean) and in the afternoon's Paddu (my bestest friend for the past 3 years) was with me to either guide me to take the right auto rickshaw back home or travel in the bus together.

I have parents, way too protective and it always so happened that the school or college I studied at, was never more than 5 miles away from my home. There was never a reason for me to get lost in the busy-busy roads of Hyderabad with people from all kinds & shades of life.

Travelling in the bus for the first time with Paddu, the previous day was super exciting. 'People-watching' is just not a fun activity; it was something more for me. Since I was a kid, I always found it amazing that no matter how many hundreds of faces I saw every day, they were always different...unique and to imagine that each one of them had a unique life...unique experiences that made them unique, made me wonder how smart god/nature was. Each time I saw someone new, I would make up the life they might be living, the fears they might be facing and what not in my tiny weenie head.

On the third day, I had to travel all alone to go back home, as Paddu was absent. I called Paddu in the afternoon, to ask her what bus I should be boarding.

Paddu was bewildered at my question and said, "Take an auto rickshaw, you never travelled in a bus alone!"

Are you going to be my mom now??  I thought to myself and told her, "Hey! I can manage. Is it 113? The bus no ??"

"YES!! Do call me if you need anything...Okay?!"Paddu said,  pleasantly surprised at my excitement.

"Sure!! Byeeee", I said as I hung up, all geared up for the adventure ahead.

I waited for the bus with the no. 113 for a while in the bus stop. I chose the one with less people in it and chose a comfortable window seat. I sat down with a big-big smile on my face and looked at the people around me. Probably, everyone must have thought I was crazy...I mean... not many would be glad to be travelling in an overly crowded bus. For the next 30-40 minutes, I was in a trance like state looking at the people getting in and out of the bus, looking at the people walking on the road, people in their vehicles as the bus stopped at every red signal. I loved this experience and the fact that I was all alone made it more fun!

I was proud of myself at my little achievement and was lost in my own thoughts making up stories about people around. 

"Aren't you getting down??” I heard the girl standing next to me say (in Telugu of-course). 

I looked at her blankly, wondering with whom she was speaking. In the next couple of seconds, I looked at her, top to bottom and made up who she could be. A not so fashionable dressing style, a old college bag, a not so expensive (brand-less too) sandals.....she is just an average girl I thought and wondered if she had a hard life. 

"You need to get down here!” She said again (she spoke to me in Telugu all the while).

"WHAT??" I said bewildered that she was actually speaking to me.

"This is the last stop....you need to get down, now." She said.

I gave a quick glance inside the bus and realized that apart from me and her, the bus was empty. She was right. I had to get down. I looked outside the window and said aloud more to myself, "This is not where I have to get down. My home is not here."

"Where do you live?"she asked.

"Sr nagar.......You see, I never travelled in a bus...I do not know which way I should go now..." I told her...again I was talking more to myself then her.

"I can tell you, which bus you need to take now....there is this bus stop a fore long from here".....(blah blah blah) she kept on speaking.

"Okay! I can go." I told her but silently was cursing myself, for putting myself in such a strange place. I mean it was not really a strange place. It was the Secunderabad railways station...with just a couple of hundred people walking in all directions possible. Its fun to watch people but to be lost in a crowd, is not as fun as I thought it would be.

May be I should call Paddu....I was thinking, when I realized that the girl held my wrist as she walked me ahead.

I was surprised ......She din’t had to stop her work to help me out...I was actually rude to her...well in my thoughts at least....

"This area is not safe. There are idiots everywhere. You need to be very careful", I heard her say, as she guided me carefully & tactfully avoiding a guy who could have accidentally (well ?) brushed against my hand(?)...

"Well. Here we are. You need to take the bus no...You will reach your place in 30 minutes..." blah blah she went on again.

"What's your name? What do you do?" I asked her...intrigued with her kind personality.

"My name is S (.......I forgot).  I am doing MBA at (....I forgot the name of her school)", she said.

But I remember one thing....She said the name of one of the top most colleges for MBA in Hyderabad. I was totally impressed. She was no average girl....Some one way better than me and way more humble & kinder than me and most probably a year or two younger than me.

"I need to go now. You see that bus there...? You should be boarding it now…take care…Bye" she said as she went back to bus stop we came from.

I took a couple of steps towards the bus I had to get on. When I realized that I forgot to thank her, I turned around hoping to find her. But no matter how hard I looked around, I could not find her. She was lost in the crowd. For a second, I wondered if she was actually an angel....damn! I love to believe that I live in a mystical world. Actually, I think I do.

I smiled at my stupidity...at my arrogance...at my pride as I boarded the bus she asked me to and called paddu.

"Hey guess where am I?"

"Home?" she said.

"No! I am at the railway station...I was actually lost!", I told her excited.

"But ……..how?"

"I do not know. I took the bus you told me too...its 113 K or something?"

"Oh no! You need to take 113 Y...." she said.

"...do alphabets matter?"

"Of course! They do."

___________________________________________________

Travelling in the bus was never the same again. I became kinder to the people around me, each time I travelled in a bus. And each time someone told me a "Thank you"...I would think of the stranger who deserved one for not only helping me that day but also for teaching me the most important lesson of my life i.e. 'not to judge a person by their appearance and also to be kind & humble'. 

Kali - The story of growing up with an angel.

If I say Kali is my little baby sister with an innocent loving heart, it would be a complete understatement. She has been taking many roles in my life, somtimes  being a baby with unconditional love and innocent demands to a highly understanding matured individual with a unique personality.

By the time I was born she was already five and to her I was a doll with life. She not only assumed to have all rights on me but also took up the responsibility of caring me with utmost love, even before I was born. My mom always tells me that she would never drink her glass of milk unless my mom put a glass near her baby bump and assured her the baby (yay! that's me!) did.

When I was three years old and Though there was always a difference of five years that exited between us....we both were more like twins. We both went to the same school, we both sat beside each other and we both learned the alphabets and the numbers together. If there is any faint memory of my early childhood that would be me and Kali sitting beside each other and sharing our lunch boxes at school. She was my best friend and companion, I realized it then or not.

When I was about five, Kali was no more my classmate. I do not know if I ever asked my mom as to why she can't be studying with me anymore or not. She went to a different school and I went to the same old one.

A couple of years  later, I realized how different we both were. We still played together but I got to dominate her all the time. She was more like a little sister to me now and she would obdeiently do whatever I asked her to. She was never a competetion and there was no sister rivalry between us. The relationship with Sru was totally a normal elder sis-younger sis relationship and the age differenece between us always kept our worlds apart. Sru could be the guide, caring sis ready to take the role of mom, friend rarely and of all, a role model to follow. But the relationship with Kali was different. She loved me too much and I took it for granted. She was different I thought or may be the 8-ish year old me could not realize that her mental growth was slower unlike most of us.

As we grow older....the commoness that once existed between us vanished. By my early teen years, I was used to explaining all of my friends and anyone new I met about what Downsyndrome was and is. Never for once did I feel irritatred or saddened to explain though I always wondered how IGNORANT people can be. Sru would tell me that if it was not for Kali in our lives, probably we could have  belonged to the ignorant set of people too or most probably our knowledge of what Down syndrome would have been limited to the one or two lines we read in our General schooling. Which said not much except that it was Trisomy of Chromosome 21 or in simple words Kids with DS have an extra chromosome. That is, they have 47 chromosome instead of  normal 46. 

I took it as my responsibility to tell everyone how special that one extra chromosome meant. It is just not an extra chromosome that Kali had. She had more empathy, kindness and genuine love for anybody and everybody she ever met/meets. She could never hurt anyone. The only time I saw pure evilness in her was when she hit an already dead rat with a stick and expressed how relieved she was that it was dead, as she was scared of it wandering in our home since the last two days. Anger, love, want, need, pain, grief...or any other emotion she ever expressed they were always genuine.

By my mid teen years, I realized what an idiot I was to take Kali for granted. I always made sure to never hurt her ever again but to be frank there were a couple of instances when I was rude to her just because I was frustrated with something else. But never for once she was rude to me. Her love & care for me never changed but only evolved.When someone loves you unconditionally and never shows a hint of doubt on whether you have similar feelings towards them, you just can't help but love them the way they truly deserve. 

 As I grow older kali became a baby....a kid with maybe a mental age of 4-5 years  sometimes, 8 years sometimes , and sometimes way beyond imaginable. Like most DS kids, Kali has a problem with her speech. Speech therapy, two-three decades ago was not so common in India. The speech that she is capable of now is all due to efforts of her never-give-up attidue. Almost everday she adds up a new word to her vocabulary and she always gets elated with her little victory. If she decides to accomplish something she does without any hesitation. She always finds a way to express her feelings or opinions. There are times when she can't and she would feel frustrated but then a little bit of patience from us and herself, she does find a way to express it. 

Kali is also an all rounder and an eternal learner. She loves watching television and also loves learning from it. She has learnt more hindu mythology & culture, then I did by watching movies. Strangely, she has no language restrictions. She can watch a english/hindi/telugu and even tamil sometimes and totaly grasp what they are speaking. She is just a proof, that communication is done not just through words spoken. Oh, by the way she watched Air force One movie a couple of hundred times. She loves explaining me what each of the character looks like and does in that movie. She has an amazing memory too. 

Kali is a techie too. Computers, mobile phones, games, Iphones, cameras and Ipads....She taught me more than I taught her. If I ever was too impatient to teach her something, she found a way to teach herself. As most DS kids would, she learnt from imitation or looking at others. Kali also has more medals and certificates then I do. She has attended a number of special schools for Kids with special needs. Kali realizes that she is different and we make sure she knows she is the most sweetest, most beautiful and most lovliest person on the planet. 

Kali is idealistic too. Probably she never forgot the lessons of  share-your-happiness-with-others, mom taught us as kids. She loves to share her chocolates, toys and anything she loves with her friends. The way to make her truly happy is not to buy a candy for her but for the 70-80 friends of her, at the Rehab institute. 

Making Kali happy is what makes me and my family happy. Her wishes can be small like a new book/pen to going to a school in USA. A red car, a home with an elevator, visiting Delhi, visting USA etc are just a couple of wishes we were lucky enough to fulfill for her. But there are many more she wishes for. And I wish for only one thing, which is to make her wishes and wishes of people like her come true. No matter what I  try to do for them , I can never match up to what they do for the world. They are the  true propagators of humanity duely ignored by most of us.