Chapter 1 : Domestic Violence.
"What do you think it means.. Why dont you give me an instance?"
" When the girl is usually illtreated by the in laws because she did not bring in enough money and jewellery in the form of dowry" Nagaveni answered me immediately.
I have realized after my frequent trips to Samarthanam, The School for the Blind, that even if God didnt give them eye sight, he did ensure that they too had a "view" on almost all matters . I was truly amazed at a 16 year old blind girl's interpretation of Domestic Violence.She had spoken like any other 16 year old who may have read about these terms from books, TV, internet etc. I must confess that when i first went to Samarthanam as a volunteer, I was kind of expecting the blind teenagers to be not so well read and slow in their understanding and comprehension. But I was proved wrong the very first day. I wish to say that i respect the effort that they take to listen and learn whatever is being taught to them. They can sometimes sit for hours and hours at a stretch and listen to lectures. Sad, but true is the fact that the word distraction may not apply to them as they cannot see the distraction! After every paragraph read out to them, they would memorize and repeat the key words. They also have the exceptional ability to remember numbers. Give them a permutaion and combination of even 10 digit numbers, and they can memorize them with so much ease that can put a mathematician to shame! The girls are very loving and make you feel at home. Once in a while they would stop you in between classes to maybe ask a question like "How does a very big Banyan Tree look like?" I answer the question just to realize that most of us dont even stop to look at it more than once. Not just a Banyan tree, almost everything that we see around us are usually taken for granted. Arent they??
It has been around two months that I have been to Samarthanam and every time that I am there its like a reality check.
We, expecially I , I would like to say, crib about the silliest of situtaions. I have even earned pet names like "whiny wilson"
Imagine!
My classes with them have taught me many a thing, one of them would be to complain less.
