“I cried because I had no shoes and then I met a man who had no feet.”
Anisha sulked as she walked into the stadium with her parents. She had still not forgiven her kid brother Anoop for upsetting her weekend plans. It was with great difficulty that she had convinced Papa to them out to the multiplex for a movie. Normally multiplex visits were reserved for vacations.
However, two days ago Anoop had been selected for a dance programme as a replacement for another boy who had fallen ill and they would have rehearsals in the weekend. She had not paid any attention when Anoop had excitedly told them what the programme was about and frankly she didn’t care. All she heard was that it some sporting event and she was not interested in sports at all.
She sat on a seat beside Mama and wistfully thought of the lazy lunch at the mall they would have had if only……… Still feeling gloomy, she saw small boys standing in neat rows on the stadium ground and she tried to figure out which of them was Anoop. Just then something else caught her attention. She saw that in one part of the ground, some foreigners were practicing running. “Oh, it’s an international athletic event!” she thought.
For some reason she got up and went near where they were practising. As she saw them from up close, she froze. All their legs ended at the knee and below that they had some contraptions attached. And that was what they were using for running!
Tears of pity welled in Anisha’s eyes but she noticed that the eyes of those who she pitied were far from sad. Instead of glum faces she saw genuinely cheerful, happy people laughing and joking. One athlete even looked at her and waved. The childish Anisha in a matter of minutes had grown up.
She came to know that the event was the IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports) Games and that Anoop was practicing for the Inaugural Ceremony. That night as she went to bed, she made two resolutions- one, that she would be an athlete, and two, that she would never complain about petty issues again.
It is a year since then and Anisha, the girl who never liked sports – to the surprise of her parents and teachers – has become her school’s star athlete. On December 3rd, she sees in the morning paper that it is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. She smiles as she remembers the “physically challenged” people who motivated her to become an athlete as well as a better person.
Author: Pratibha Shenoy (Basavanagudi, Bangalore)
very nice article……….
very nicely articulated…, I like the theme … Thanks!