Potentiality redefined!

It was a long day at work, I returned home at 8.15. Though I was a little tired, I told myself, “Come on, you can't miss your Jog”. My feet were aching badly, despite that I put on my running shoe and hitchhiked to KrishnaRao park, platform for my workout, four days a week. Usually, I run about five to six rounds around the park, which is approximately 5-6 Kms. But that day, my body said enough for the day after two rounds. Disappointed with myself, I headed to a concrete bench and settled down there, unplugged my earphones and became one with the serene environment. As the sounds of the hustling of leaves reverberated through my ears, I noticed a girl probably in her early teens. She had a certain strangeness associated with her. Her style of walking was strange, it looked as though she had strain every muscle in her body to walk. It appeared to me as if for her to walk was to battle. Her face told me a different story. She seemed disconnected from the outside, a subtle smile that reiterated the folks who watched her that she cared about nothing around her. 

I sat there on the concrete bench with my eyes pinned on her and my mind wondering what would she grow up to become. While i was engrossed in this, she walked past me, tripped and fell. It took me a couple of seconds to realise she fell and I have to get up and help her. finally after a moment of lull, I snapped out of the temporary paralysis jumped up and rushed to her. I helped her get back to her feet and made her sit down on the concrete bench. Another gentleman too rushed to the spot and before we could realise there were atleast dozen folks around her. A lady in her mid forties asked her the details of her family, she told us her father's name and told us that her father was just sitting a few paces away. I started running shouting her father's name. The father who was sitting in a nearby corner in the park came upto me and told me that the girl was her daughter and headed to straight to the spot where she sat. On arriving there, the girl's father admonished her daughter for causing anxiety to so many people, though his tone was not abrasive.

The father daughter duo left and so did I, while I walked past her, I asked her dad what's unusual about her. His answer shocked and surprised me at the same time, "My daughter was born with disability, she is physically challenged and mentally challenged. She was unable to walk till four years and the doctors had told that she would never be able to walk. They even told her brain wouldn't develop and advised me to put her to an orphanage. However, I decided to give her the Ancient Ayurvedic treatment. After about three years of treatment, she is now able to walk around the whole park. Life has changed for her, she is a real fighter. She has taught me so many lessons".

After this heartrending conversation, I bid goodbye to that girl, to which she sweetly replied, Goodbye!!

I went home elated, I'd heard about the story of Wilma Rudolph who was one of the greatest woman sprinter in Olympic history. She was polio stricken at a tender age, but later on became an Olympic Gold medalist. I felt as though I met a Wilma Rudolph in the making.

"My Doctor told me I would never walk again,
 my mother told me I would.
  I believed my mother, "

                         - Wilma Rudolph


I have nothing to conclude, she is an inspiration to me and I shall remember her for many years to come. Most of all when I am running and my body says no more, I would think of this girl, tell myself that when a girl who couldn't walk could today walk miles together, I can definitely do more. I just felt lucky to be there at that precise moment.

This is Vattam signing off