“What color is an apple?”

“Red.”

“What color is the sky.”

“Blue.”

“And what color is your shirt?”

No response. The kid looked helplessly at his mother. The six year old child, with big, deep-blue eyes, seemed intelligent for his age. But he couldn’t answer the last question, though his shirt was also blue in color.

“He is blind by birth”, said his mother feebly, as if ashamed of his physical inadequacy.

“What’s his name?”

“Nayan.”

Nayan, meaning eyes. Eyes without sight, eyes without vision, but not devoid of dreams. This is not the story of Nayan alone. There are thousands of Nayans and Sunainas in this world, each of them nourishing a dream.

“You know, I’m learning computers and when I grow up, I’m going to teach it all computers who cannot see”, the child babbled.

“Computers?”

“Yes.” His mother answered for him. “The organization for blind where he studies is teaching computers to students.”

From her, I came to know that there are some non-profit organizations teaching computers to such kids. They do not aim to make a Bill Gate out of them, but try to make them proficient in a few Word Processors and get them a decent job.

I discussed this with some of my colleagues and we decided to pool money at our company and get a PC for one such organization. We were a little apprehensive of our success at first, but still decided to go ahead with our mission. In less than a weeks time, we received a contribution of 7,200 Rupees. Our hopes rose. But even after two months, we were still at 8,600 Rupees. We thanked all those who contributed. We also thanked those who didn’t. It helped us realize – dreams do not necessarily turn into realities.

However, Nayan, I’m sorry we could not get a PC for your organization. Some dreams do not turn into reality. And you are not inadequate in any way. You are not different from any of us. You may not be able to tell blue from red, but you do know what is black. You virtually live with it the whole day. And blue is just a few shades lighter than the black. You should not be ashamed of the darkness you live in Nayan… Just think of the person you might have been if you lived in light.

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