So someone may see rainbow

Major Amarjeet Batth (retd)

I once attended a seminar on eye donation, where speakers extolled the virtues of being an eye donor. Though it did not move me enough to take any decision, the idea got stored in my mind, popping up once in a while as I pondered over the darkness that surrounded the life of the visually impaired. I could empathise with them after closing my eyes for a few moments, and talked to myself how it was so difficult for a normal man to be enveloped in darkness. We would not blink and keep our eyes wide open as it got dark. Those born blind have not seen a ray of light ever since their birth, with no figment of imagination as to what light is and the type of visual sensation it creates in the mind. What are colours? They have never seen a rainbow.

All these thoughts were accentuated recently when I got an opportunity to be with visually impaired children at a charitable function that turned out to be quite interactive, as the children played musical instruments, sung songs and danced. Light that has all the meaning to us has no relevance to them, but they compensated their darkness by kindling their inner light and to sparkle with their talent. I heard them chanting bhajan so soulfully and playing the keyboard and other percussion instruments with diligence. Though living in a shrunken world, they were at peace and in a blissful state of mind, contrary to many of us living under the bright sun.

I had seen visually challenged children earlier too, but had never interacted with them up close. It was at this function that I gathered their dependency in performing even day-to-day routine activities. The support they needed even to walk a step and have a meal was significant. They are clueless about how the world looks. They touch to visualise, smell to imagine and hear to conceptualise — perhaps this is sixth sense. I never realised that despite not being able to see, one can ‘see’ things with a different perception and in a new dimension.

As the function concluded, I realised that I was not on the ‘giver’ side, but on the ‘taker’, for this time I learnt how much we are blessed. Not thanking the Almighty for the little things, the blessing that allows us to see the limitless blue sky. I was totally moved. The function took me back to that seminar I had attended, and prompted me to take a long-pending decision. I will, now, be an eye donor.  I want someone to see the rainbow.