Disability or Ability

Sonal was in the 12^th class, she has been the prefect of the school for past 2 years. She was all-rounder, be it academic, sports, music, theatre.  She had a go getter spirit in her, she knew her strengths well and had figured out what field she would like to pursue.  She really wanted her parents to be proud of her.

In her class there was another girl called Sonam, who was differently abled, she had Downs Syndrome. Her parents wanted her to go through regular education and learn to interact with all kind of people, as that will equip her to face the real world.  Sonam was a happy kid, who loved interacting with other kids. She was very much grounded on her reality and her experience of interacting with others, had made her accept all kind of people, some who would sympathize, some who will ignore, the few who will treat her as equal.

On the last day of school, everyone took pictures, spoke of their dreams and made resolutions to be in touch.

Post School, everyone got scattered and got busy in making their careers. Some joined engineering courses, some did graduation in their subject of interests, and some joined their family business.

It’s been 9+ years now, very few were able to remain in touch.  The school had a tradition of celebrating reunion every 10, 20 years for its batches. To invite everyone, based on the information they had in their database, emails were sent to all students.  Some of them, who saw the email, broadcasted the message in other social media forums. On seeing the messages, some of them went back the memory lane and recollected the innocent dreams they had then and the fun they used to have together.

Soon people started reaching out to their old friends, asking them to check if they are coming. A new whatsup group got created and everyone had a great time recollecting memories of school, the teachers, and the places in school where they used to hang out, the nicknames they had kept for each one of them.

Everyone was gearing up for the D Day. Sonal was now working in a MNC, she was responsible of overall project execution for their big clients based on US. She had a daughter 10 year old. Luckily her parents were her support system, which enabled her to take care of work responsibilities. She had a good name in her company.  

Finally the day arrived, few had changed a lot in physical appearance and they really had to tell incident to make people believe they were the same folks. Everyone got transported to the earlier days, re-living them one more time. Constant time travel was happening, as the topics fluctuated between current times, future and past.

While everyone was chatting, a car stopped, people could see a lady getting down. There were few other people accompanying her who seem to be carrying some boxes. They saw the other folks post placing the boxes, saying bye to her and giving her a hug. Everyone had big smiles on their faces.

As the lady walked in, everyone recognized the lady with the million dollar smile, she was Sonam.

Rishi asked her what are the boxes for? She said, she got some namkeen and mithai for everyone.

Is it from your shop, multiple people asked at the same time as they remembered what she said as her dream on the farewell day?

Sonam said Yes, post 12^th she started her business first from home, now she has a shop.  Someone asked who were the people who came with you and left?  Sonam said, they are my team. They came to help me and told me to have fun and don’t even think of coming to the shop.

Once everyone was in, they had a circle, where people shared what they were up to, what they recollected most fondly of school time.  Everyone had the snacks and commented on the authentic favor, which was so rare to find these days and how some of the local dishes have vanished.

It was now evening; some decided to continue the nostalgia trip a bit longer by having dinner together. Everyone bid farewell to each other, feeling grateful they could meet their friends, teachers and also recollect their own versions 10 years back.

As Sonal was going back, she thought about how everyone created their own unique paths. Some folks, whom everyone expected to follow traditional paths were now trail blazers and how some like her who people thought would make a difference, were caught in the mainstream world. As she was thinking, she thought of Sonam, she knew her interests and pursued them.

The kind of bond she had with her staff was more like an extended family.  Sonal thought of her relationship with her team in office, how transactional it was and how the deadlines mattered the most and nothing else.

Sonal wondered, did the class mates really deserve her affection she showered on them, most of them were busy in their own worlds in school and never thought of what she must be feeling, when she was not asked to join the games they played. No one ever checked with her how she was doing and did she need any help in any of the subjects.

Neither the classmates not teachers provided any support for Sonam, if she had anyone on her side, it was her family.

Sonal felt, Sonam may have a disability in the eyes of the world however their entire class including her had living disability, disability to feel for others, which was a much bigger handicap.