A Beautiful World

I was more than prepared for the grumbles and complains (atleast from my dear boy). It was afterall his first free Saturday morning in ages. He had to be up for school everyday at an unearthly 6.30am and continue the same on Saturdays for his cricket coaching. The one day that his coaching is cancelled, the meanie that I am has other plans for him that does not involve his bed.

The family was up and ready at the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped on an early morning last weekend all set to participate in the Courage Walk. Hundreds of visually impaired friends were planning to trek all the way to the Mc Ritchie Nature Reservoir and back. And we were to guide them and join in their walk.

The Dad and I had been involved in several such volunteering efforts till before the kids arrived. Besides feeling good, we have actually had a ton of fun volunteering. Once the kids arrived, we convinced ourselves that the family first needed our services.

We have always wanted the kids to be involved and feel that joy. We've tried what we could during our cramped vacations in India. Volunteering in Finland just did not happen as there was not much need for it there. Now that we were back and the kids are not really 'kids' we wanted to plunge right in and let the kids experience it all first hand.

In that sea of trekkers, Vaibhav and Shriya were the only two children. I did get some killer looks thrown my way but we had little time for all that as we were soon assigned two visually impaired friends that we could help. As we set about our trek, the kids opened up as did our friends. Hobbies and routines were compared, junk food versus healthy snacks were debated and even the sensitive topics of how they became blind and ways they deal with it were all discussed.

On our way back, my visually impaired friend casually warned a startled Shriya to watch out for the pit beside her. Vaibhav was beyond surprised to hear the Dad's friend talk about his travels. We were all mighty impressed with their talents, accomplishments and attitudes.

At the end of the event, we sure had our eyes opened to a world so beautiful. The kids have been initiated.