A Visit To Remember.....

My term as a sojourner in this city of Surat finishes in about 8 more months..and though I am absolutely and completely in love with the simplicity and the mellowness of this city and its people..there is no denying the fact that it is utterly miserable in terms of the number of good 'Hang-out' places..after straining my brain thoroughly, the places which register to me are 'The ONGC bridge'..'Dumas'..'Iskon temple'..'The Surat Zoo..(For all the animal/bird lovers [:P])..'Iskon Mall !?!...and all the other malls..Valentine..raj empire..'..a few fantasy parks..and last but not the least Lake view...I am familiar with the general conception about the latter..but just found out this semester that the boating there is worth a visit..Having said that I must admit that it is a humble effort made by me to expand the size of the list as much as possible..

Now there is this one place I visited about two days back at a distance of about five to seven minutes from our college..which I guess was probably the best place I got to 'Hangout' at in the past three years..It is this school for the physically handicapped, courtesy 'Reliance' where two of my friends had some work regarding the 'Joy of Giving' Day our college will be celebrating this coming tuesday..I accompanied them for sheer curiosity...All through the Auto ride, one thought which loomed in my head was that it would probably be dejecting and disheartening to meet and get to know these the young kids with disabilities dwelling within the school premises..

Well..how wrong was I...!!A Little cut on our hands or legs makes us crave for sympathy from our loved-ones..and here I was about to meet a host of children..all living with some improper functioning of one or the other part of their body..fending for their own lives..

I met this tiny tot..7 yrs of age and there was'nt a moment when I saw the smile off her face..her liveliness truly made it unnoticeable that the there was something not right about her legs..Then there was this twelve year old girl..with non-functional hands..and was she great or what...!! She writes with her legs..and can put peerless 'Mehendi' on people's hands..all with her legs..Tell her to dance and she'll jump to her feet and make you wonder how magnificently exceptional she really is...

13 girls live in a room..with the slightly elder ones looking after the younger ones..all of them do their chores themselves rite from washing their clothes to sweeping their rooms and some of them even lend a helping hand in the mess to cook food..

Looking at everyone of them is so inspiring..an inspiration to live our own lives to the fullest..their disability is just a perception..a perception of people like us..while in reality they are remarkably special individuals surpassing all obstacles in the path of their lives..not once lamenting over the fact that it could have been easier..

When it was time for us to leave..these children held our hands and told us to stay for some more time..we told them we could'nt and they insisted that we return the next day...their unreasonable affection and warm-heartedness increased our already overflowing fondness for them..and we knew we'd surely be going back again sometime soon..

Refreshing!!! That's the word that would perfectly describe my visit to this school..

And in the end a lil' piece of info..there is a floral garden that exists in the same lane..just one more place to add to the list !!!