Life

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

“Life is like a box of chocolates, we never know what you’re gonna get.” So said Forrest Gump’s mom.

Is it really?

Life is a bouquet of flowers for the romantic, a multi colored fragrance 

Life is a classroom for the teacher where lessons are given and exams taken.

Life is a crossroad for the policeman where incoming and outgoing traffic need to be regulated

Life is a hospital for the doctor where sugarcoated bitter pills are given smilingly

Life is an empty canvas for the painter, to be filled with his riotous colors.

Life is a puzzle for the angelic child, trying to fit all her pieces in.

Life is a nonstop race for the mother, acing at all her trials

And for me, Life is a…I’m just a mere bystander and a floater, soaking in the atmosphere.

Here today, Gone Tomorrow!

One Night

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

11:22 PM. 8 minutes to go before the cabbie arrived at the gate. I quickly gulped down the sticky Maggie, put some clothes, checked my purse for money, grabbed my phone.

11:28 PM  2 minutes to go before the cabbie arrived at the gate. I sprinted down, tucking my shirt in, hoping to be there at the gate, before the cabbie. I couldn’t bear his accusatory tone, if I was late.

11:30 PM Paradise regained. Rupa was in the cab and so was Sonali. In 30 minutes, it was Rupa’s birthday. I was hoping to get her nod tonight. I had spent a packet on a ring to gift Rupa and seal the bond.

Rupa smiled warmly. A good omen! Sonali smirked. Nothing unusual. The cabbie revved up. He was in a hurry. As he sped on the bustling roads, braking at will and barely managing to avoid colliding into vehicles.

Rupa became nervous. She slipped her fingers into mine and held onto them. Smirking Sonali, let go at the cabbie, who slowed down momentarily and stuck to his original speed. As we turned into a lane, BAMM! The cabbie managed to bang into a pizza delivery guy, who flew into air on impact. To avoid hurting him further, the cabbie swerved and crashed into a tree.

1:00 AM Rupa wokeup, to see the mayhem around. Air-bags had saved the cabbie. But he was unconscious. Sonali sat rubbing her head. mumbling something incoherently in Marathi. Her man, seemed to have passed out too, though fingers were still entwined. There is this persistent mooing sound. They were in a no-network patch.

1:30 AM Rupa shookher man and Sonali. The man was stirring. So he wasn’t dead. They both comforted each other and came out slowly to check the mayhem. They  flashed  their mobiles to see the extent of damage. The pizza delivery guy was no where to be found. They searched under the vehicle, over the cab. No sign of the guy. But the mooing was now loud and clear. To their utter horror, they saw one horn of a buffalo sandwiched between the bumper and the tree. The Buffalo wasn’t hurt but shocked.

2:00 AM Sonali shook the driver, who slowly resurfaced. He got down to see the bonnet smashed up. And they all heard some feeble sounds coming from the tree. As they all craned their necks to see, they could make out the outline of the pizza delivery boy. The impact had landed him on the top branches and he was moaning. Except the cabbie no one knew how climb trees except the driver, who wasn’t exactly in shape to do so. The mooing was getting stronger. The buffalo was now petrified. They all gathered and somehow managed to push the cab away from the tree, enough for the buffalo to move away. The moment it wriggled, one horn that was sandwiched broke into half and the buffalo ran away.

3:00 AM The ladies, the cabbie and the man were now petrified. What if a crowd gathered and beat them to pulp. But they couldn’t leave the pizza delivery guy, up the wall. How about shaking the tree? The pizza guy continued to moan.

3:15 AM the cabbie somehow dragged himself up and helped the pizza delivery guy down. As they all gathered, firstly they wolfed down an entire pizza and then started walking ahead. Till they found help.

As the day broke, both the cab and the scooter were towed away. Everyone got a day to recover.

And as the day ended a one horned buffalo was trending. Nobody knew what happened.

THE WELCOME ADDRESS ON THE 9TH SEPTEMBER 2017

Inclusive India Initiative, is an effort to spread awareness on intellectual & developmental disabilities under the flagship of National Trust.     

The 1^st India International conference for and about persons with Down Syndrome was inaugurated by Dr. Surekha Ramachandran, President of Down Syndrome Federation, who welcomed Mr. Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor, Mr. Yugi Afanasiev, UN Resident Coordinator and other speakers from around the world.

Down syndrome (DS or DNS), also known as Trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is typically associated with delayed physical growth, characteristic facial features and mild to moderate intellectual disability.

This conference is intended to help those afflicted and their families.

THE WELCOME  ADDRESS ON THE  9^TH SEPTEMBER 2017

It is a pleasure to welcome you all to the 1^ST India International conference for and about persons with Down Syndrome

It is an honor  to welcome Mr. Ajit doval, our National Security Advisor.

Sir, with your presence here, all of us with children with disabilities, feel safe and secure. Thank you sir for giving us your valuable time.

We welcome Mr. Yuri, the United Nations resident coordinator of India. Welcome sir!

To all my friends in the Asia pacific region and the speakers from around the world, a hearty welcome to the capital city of India, New Delhi. It is our pleasure to be able to interact with scientists and researchers in the field of DS, who have travelled here to share valuable information with us.

A hearty welcome to all the advocates who have been waiting patiently for the change to happen and working tirelessly for the same…

As always, we extend a warm welcome to all my colleagues and parents who share our common interest of improving the lives of people with Down syndrome.

Humsafar parivaar walon Namaskar…

This is a landmark India/international event, as we will be for the first time, celebrating people with Down syndrome, in New Delhi  and honor their courage and optimism.

One birth –  One child – Babli! This one amazing person, instilled courage and belief in one family, The Ramachandrans, who believed that change was possible. They saw a revolution that has transformed the world of Down Syndrome in India!

Research and  awareness has broken all the myths that came to be associated with these children. Not only has it led the parents to have new hope for the future of their children, it also has brought the professional, medical people and the bureaucrats into our fold. What a positive change in attitudes! What commitment and involvement from the parents too!

More importantly, the last 30 years have seen an evolved society that believes that  people with disabilities have tremendous potential.

Life is an experience. It teaches us many lessons. However one realizes that it is from adversity that strength is gathered. The Down Syndrome Association, set sail in November 1984 and in these 33 years, it explored and discovered the magic of the world of Down Syndrome.

This voyage, exploration and discovery began with 6 children and we did not have to travel too far to unravel the mystery that has been slowly and silently transforming these lives. This has reached out to over 5200 families and is continuing its journey into the remotest parts of India.

India has the largest population of people with Down Syndrome. 1 in 750 births, is a child with Down Syndrome which means 30,000 people with Down Syndrome are born every year. To bring each one into our fold is a mammoth task.

The parents and people with Down Syndrome came out and carved a niche for themselves in the society and we have all realized the beauty of that simple yet powerful world.

How did this happen?

Very simple! The social media! Apart from the web sites, the numerous whatsapp groups, the youtube downloads, the blogs, Facebook and telegram, we are all connected. Every child born even in the remotest part of the country is identified and added to the groups. Language is no longer a barrier. Each state has an identified parent support group that is easily accessible in the local languages. Monetary assistance for surgeries and medical expertise is also routed through these groups.

What does this year’s conference highlight?

This year’s conference will draw attendance from leading professionals in the area of Down syndrome from all over the world.  The spotlight will be on strategies to highlight and focus on solutions for the various challenges that people with Down syndrome face globally.

This conference also builds upon the fact that India and the international community need to open up for inclusion of people with Down syndrome into the mainstream. We intend to deliver a program consisting of research and scientific papers delivered parallely, along with hands-on workshops for people with Down syndrome.

This Conference pledges to deliver current and relevant information for everybody who is associated with Down syndrome – parents, siblings or caretakers.

It also provides opportunities for the various stakeholders to exchange ideas on trends in the world of Down syndrome and best practices to ensure a better life for them.

What would a truly inclusive society look like? What can we do to create and improve inclusion today? How are you working towards a more inclusive society? Which doors are open, which remain shut? 

While every nation on planet Earth continues to struggle with disability-related issues such as accessibility, employment, housing, rights, and more; the nation of India, very clearly has quite a long way to go before it ensures a sense of equality with relation to people with disabilities. The fact that India has signed ‘The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ is promising. One can hope that  India will pursue the Convention and find itself guaranteeing equality in society for their citizens with disabilities.

As a society, we must still deal with all forms of division and intolerance, but we believe that we have made huge strides in bringing about a better education dispensation for all and that such endeavours will ultimately lead to freedom and a better life for all.

On this day, let us reaffirm that persons with Down syndrome are entitled to the full and effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.  Let us each do our part to enable children and persons with Down syndrome to participate fully in the development and life of their societies on an equal basis with others.

Let us build an inclusive society for all.  Jai Hind

Love Lives on

A dashing young captain meets a beautiful young lady in one of the Army get together’s, falls head long in torrid love. The young girl reciprocates. The stuff of movies!

They face the usual parental opposition -The girl is cast in 24 carat gold but caste is different – After heavy Bollywoodian drama, they tie the knot with all round albeit reluctant blessings.
The infantry captain gets posted all across India – Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Siachen. Wherever possible, the new bride follows him. Life is a breeze, when you are in love! Nothing is insurmountable!! In due course of time, they become doting parents of a bonny boy.
After a while, they set up home in Delhi.

The by now Colonel, goes for a Sunday Golf Session with his buddies, sets the ball on the Tee, just bundles up and faints. Friends rush him to the Army hospital where his ECG and pulse are found to be normal. The attending doctors give an aspirin for his throbbing headache and ask him to go home as all the vital-stats seem to be fine. The wife begs for a CAT Scan, in fact, gives it in writing. Sunday Stupor I guess, overruling her, they send him home saying ,” He is sitting, so he is fine!”.
He goes home and has a massive seizure in the afternoon and collapses, never to recover. They rush him to the same hospital where he is put on a ventilator. He is already brain dead but rest of the organs are working fine. They try to revive him with industrial level steroids & machines.

After the sixth day, the devoted wife is asked to do the needful..

Switch Off the Ventilator as there is no chance of her husband reviving..
In those utter grief-filled moments, she thinks of ways to make her love live on..
5 simultaneous operations are done – to give his heart to a man on the death bed, his kidneys to a 13-year-old girl and a sailor, pancreas to someone else, and so on..
The Colonel is given a full ceremonial send off. The grieving widow picks up the threads of her life, wins a landmark judgment against the hospital, gets into her hobby full time, making it a lucrative venture and brings up her only son, to be dashing, empathetic young man.
This is a real life story. The lady in question, was my muse for one of my short stories..
I salute this brave heart, on this organ donation day.

Rain

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

It was the pitter patter sound that woke Simran up. The sound of steady fall of water droplets, on her glass window,

The rain seemed to come down in sheets. Everything was wet, washed  and the leaves actually looked fresh and green.

This particular shade of green was something she had seen, way back in time, when she was carefree, young and deeply in love.

A period of time, when Simran used to hop onto a local to Lonavala, to trek the Western Ghats along with the love of her life, Raj, and the incessant rain would caress her curves while the mesmerizing greenery would intoxicate her.

Her utterly smitten Raj would share hot cups of masala chai with his Simran as they bundled together, quivering and shivering.

Simran Verma stole a glance towards her husband, Raj Verma, snoring away, utterly unmindful of the beauty of nature, dancing right in front of him, and sighed wistfully.

Her mobile sprang to life. ” MemSaab, Not coming for work today. It is raining cats and dogs”.

The phone was disconnected even before Simran could utter a word.

“Oh these bloody bloody *&^%* rains!!”