This was summer 2009 when I visited the Victoria memorial school, School for the blind.

Their innocent touch, their fun-filled chatter and the way they glide down the stairs. I can watch them for hours. Just watching them fills my heart with joy. They take in their surroundings absorbing every minutest detail. Their individual senses of touch hearing and smell are stronger then all of ours combined together. They intently listen while I read to them fables legends or just plain stories.

I was climbing down the stairs when after climbing two to three stairs I realized standing on the step below were two small boys. They were still, like statues. When they didn’t budge, I even wondered whether they were playing a game but then I realized how stupid that sounded as these two boys standing in front of me were definitely blind. I was at the Victoria Memorial Blind School and so a game definitely couldn’t be a possibility. After a second I felt scared. What if something had happened to them? Were they hurt? Why weren’t they moving? These numerous questions passed my mind in the span of a few seconds until all my questions were answered. I finally heard it, 15 seconds after those 2 blind boys had. There was a faint sound of the national anthem being sung by a group of blind boys in the distance. This is why they were standing so still and erect I realised. I felt stupid though I didn’t need to really as of course I hadn’t heard the national anthem earlier when those random thoughts crossed my mind. This feeling wasn’t from the fact that I had actually thought such things but were infact from the realization that I being a normal person, a person who could see, one who was blessed by god and given the gift of sight unlike these 2 unfortunate boys was weaker then them in many ways. First being that I was so busy in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear the sound of the national anthem being sung which those little boys had heard so easily. Their sense of hearing being sharper then us but yet if we people who can see were only more attentive and aware of our surroundings, we wouldn’t need that sharper sense of hearing. Therefore we must always be satisfied with that which we cannot change and make full use of what we have. We often don’t realize the importance of what we have and so we keep trying to change it.

Later I was introduced to the kids as the ‘madam’ who was going to read to them. It felt awkward as the children I was teaching were almost the same age as me and I wanted to read to them as a friend. I then introduced myself to them and told them that we were now friends. I then asked them what they would like me to read for them. Their instant reply was fairytales. I immediately picked a book on fairytales and began reading to them. I yet remember how each time I would read to them, huge smiles would spread across each of their faces. Their excitement and happiness was infectious and it helped grow the enthusiasm in me. I then realised how happy and satisfied these children are with their lives.