The Differently Abled..

A friend of mine lives life with a physical disability, a handicap if you will. I've seen close up how different her life is from those who are not physically challenged,and how much we take for granted the simple things that we can do without much trouble. Her blog(which is worth reading), got me thinking on the one sided view we have to the concept of a handicap.

Does a handicap only describe a physical or mental disability, or can we stretch the term into an emotional one as well? Take for sake of argument, the popular character Sheldon Cooper from the sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory'. Dr. Sheldon Cooper has full possession of his physical abilities and is gifted with an exceptional intellect, but when his room mate has a loud fight with his girlfriend, Sheldon is unable to handle it and goes to any and all lengths to drown out the fight, even walking out of the apartment, leading his roommate to worry for his safety. Does this inability to be in the presence of two people having an  argument( to the point which it, for that time, cripples his academic pursuits and perhaps endangers his life) point to a disability of sorts?

In a way, we all have handicaps. We are all crippled in some small way or another. Some cannot speak up in front of a crowd, some cannot keep their cool when they need to. Few cannot see the silver lining, few keep looking for a greener side. You will argue that these 'handicaps' are 'curable'. That physical and mental disabilities cannot be remedied without major medical intervention, while my so called handicaps are a matter of applying  some will power and the right support. And I agree with you fully. In both cases, the crux of the matter is acceptance. In both cases, we need to fight like hell, but accept when our inability holds us down, and ask for help. There is no shame in that. Those who see this move ahead in the race of life, no matter whether they can or cannot run.

life in slow motion..

        Anyone who sits at home and while watching the match on their TVs, says "this looks so easy!",should actually take the trouble of visiting a stadium when a test is in progress .Had they been among the crowd and actually seen Fidel Edwards steaming in and digging the ball short,and VVS at the other end nonchalantly pull-flicking it through  mid wicket, they would have come to appreciate a touch more, the amount of skill and precision required to play the game at the highest level and in its toughest format.It is this feeling, this awareness, that only live action can bring, that was awakened within me after a friend convinced me to watch a bit of the last test between India and the West Indes at the Wankhede.I was surprised at the invitation because i had never been to watch a test and somehow had never felt inclined to do so.But i took the chance to erase one more item from my (quite long)never-done-before list and tagged along.And i didn't regret it one bit.It is an experience i would recommend to all those who have played the game, and here i unashamedly admit that there will be quite a few of us who ,like me, never felt inclined.Not just because it is perhaps the best exhibition of the game we love, but because it gives us an idea of how things that appear so simple are in reality extremely difficult.
        We will never get an idea of how fast is fast until we sit in the stands at ground level , perpendicular to the pitch and watch a quick bowler bowl.(A better view is probably inside the batsman's head ;i am curious to see its 'colour' as the bowler nears the crease.)  But it all  looks deceptively simple on TV.We think nothing of the fact that Tendulkar and Dravid can play a short  ball just on off stump down to fine leg with deft wristwork.It looks easy and so it must be.And this is how we think when we are dissatisfied with our lot and look at other peoples lives .We see only the results, and the apparent ease with which they are achieved.we look at their lives longingly and think" if only i had it made ,like they do".We see only the TV view, not live action from inside their heads.This is why everyone must watch a test match live, at least once in their lives, and go home knowing that everyone plays in the real world, and no one does well easily,for there would not be any sense of achievement if it was so.No one lives slow motion, TV lives.The grass is as green as you make it on any side.