Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!!

After around a solid five minutes, there he was, moving towards everyone and staring at them to get a poor glimpse of their faces.

Understanding his problem, I quickly went towards him..
Me: Hi..umm..are you Lokesh?
Lokesh: Aaama..hmm..nee..ee..nngaa?
Me: Hi Lokesh, naan dhaan Akshaya..unga scribe..enna theriyudha?
Lokesh: Enaku epdinga akka therium..seri vaanga akka ulla polaam..

I felt a pang of guilt in my heart for having asked something like that. Ordering and cursing myself to think twice before uttering the next word, I followed him silently to the lecturer’s room.
We had a short talk with his lecturer, after which Lokesh had gone to have his lunch. I was just sitting and mentally scheduling my works and decided on having a stroll around the college. And that’s exactly when I got the urge to start this blog! In just 10 minutes of time, I had mixed emotions swirling inside me..and the reason behind all this was that I was seeing something that I couldn’t digest.

This place I was in, was the college which taught people about social working (MASTERS in social work it seems!!) and around me, were 100s of young students who were ‘able’ in every possible way, who had enough time to chit-chat their way to glory, who had enough money to waste a full bottle of coke for the sake of having fun.. But not a single soul out there had the heart to help this poor boy, who was longing for love, support, friendship and what not!
What is the big deal in just studying about social working, when you can’t help your classmate who is in dire need?(Heart of hearts, I was feeling proud of myself!!)
It was a rude shock to me, specially because I had come with this wrong notion that the college was for differently-abled people.

My deep, fervent thoughts were interrupted by Lokesh’s voice. Without giving it a second thought, I asked him if students in his class wouldn’t budge to help him. It was so sweet of him to maturely say that they don’t help him only because project works should be done individually (His project, for which I was trying to help him, was based on visually impaired people and their psycho-social problems..well..how apt!!!). I couldn’t stop myself from asking him “why? can’t they even help you in just mere reading or writing?” With a smile, he answered “vidunga ka..they might not have time”

If visually-impaired people are called differently-abled ..then what do we call people who are heartless??

My day with Lokesh…

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink!! This is the caption I wanted to give for this post, but since it seemed longer than the title, I decided on not making it look that funny! So to reveal the reason behind this caption, you have got no other go, but to follow all the upcoming posts.

Now..all you people out there starting to read my post, would have various questions popping up in your mind like..Who is this guy Lokesh? What is all this sudden hype for? Something fishy? I always had a doubt on this girl..Is she going out with him or what? And my dear dear relatives, staring at this post, totally puzzled and worried..waiting to call up my parents to advice them on taking EXTRA care of me(read *ask extra questions about everything done* )
Well, well, well..stop right there..don’t let your imaginations get too far and, please get on with reading this post..

July 9, 2010..this is the day I met this guy and spent more than half of my day with him.
How do I know him? What is he to me? Hmm..c’mon..just move on!!
Lokesh, A guy who is doing his Masters in Social Work in Chennai.
Hmm..this day didn’t have a very great start. It was just a usual, boring, sleepy morning except for the small accident I met with, by slamming my bedroom door against my finger (A small accident which made me look at my minutely swollen fore finger for more than an hour and cry out to everyone possible..ya ya I know..i am a little fussy!!) Inspite of all this ‘commotion’ I headed on to meet my new friend Lokesh.

Confirming with Lokesh about the plans, I left home in a hurry hoping not to lose my ‘favorite window seat’ in the 23C bus.But like always..Man proposes,God disposes!! I stood all the way till Egmore and was fully squeezed and crushed..Thanks to our Chennai buses and some of the desperate people who will do ANYTHING to get a seat!! I finally made my way out and got down with this *Oh My God, Akshaya,You really deserve this for being on the phone for 1 hour and not getting ready * look on my face.I reached the place on time (in spite of being on the phone for an hour!!) and waited for him to come. After around a solid five minutes, there he was, moving towards everyone and staring at them to get a poor glimpse of their faces. This medium-height, a few extra pounds, dark, 20 year old Lokesh is an ungifted and unlucky child of god..who unlike you and me is visually impaired and needs people like us to support him..if not by money, at least physically like being his scribe!!