A blind man’s senses | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

A blind man’s senses

12 March, 2023

“The next bus arrives at quarter to three. That means in another fifteen minutes”, the man said.

“Thank you, kindly Sir.” I said and slowly made my way to the bench at the bus stop.

Cataracts in the eyes

By this time I was suffering from cataracts meaning that I was blind. I had some cool looking shades for my eyes which were white and scared young children.

Sometimes, I dreamt about seeing the world. I had a stick which all blind people use but I had put it in my bag.

A young boy

The bus arrived at the halt I boarded it slowly. No one realised I was blind so no one came to help. The bus was crowded but I managed to find an empty seat with the help of a young boy.

“Uncle, sit next to me. There is a seat.” he said.

I thanked him gratefully. The bus started and we started talking.

“Uncle, where are you going?”, the little boy asked.

“It’s my daughter’s birthday. I am going to her home to celebrate.”

“How old is your daughter?”

“She is turning 21 today.” I said joyfully.

“Uncle are you blind?”

“Yes.”

I figured out that the little boy’s father was a famous doctor. And the little boy, who’s name was Ramesh was also going home.

After two hours the bus stopped for tea, I had two jam buns in my bag and I gave one to Ramesh. He gave me some sweets. I bought tea and chocolate milk and gave the chocolate milk to Ramesh.

Good friends

Ramesh and I had become good friends. I sat on a rock listening intently to the noises around me. I realised there was a river and the road was on the other side.

“Uncle, may I walk that way, near the river?” Ramesh asked.

“Yes, but be careful.” I said.

Ramesh walked away. I was listening intently for a long time waiting for his feet to crunch against the gravel as he ran back but there was no noise and no one came. I was alarmed. I stood up and as quickly as I could I walked to the river tapping my stick along the ground.

“Ramesh!” I shouted.

“I’m here uncle,” he said.

And he came to me.

“I was looking at the water lilies.” Ramesh said.

“Ok, the bus will soon leave, come.” I said and kept a firm hand on his shoulder.

A landslide

Then I heard some roots uprooting and something like rocks moving. Is it a landslide?

“Ramesh, look up there what is happening?” I asked quickly.

“It looks like the soil is coming down,” Ramesh said.

“It’s a landslide!” I said. “Ramesh, help me to tell all the people.”

An alert

Together, we shouted and alerted everyone. Once everyone was out of the way the bus driver ran to save the bus. Everyone was shouting at him, but he managed to move himself and the bus to safety. The land tumbled down. It was obvious that if we had been still there we would have been dead in five seconds.

Everybody ran to me and thanked me. Why did no one else notice the landslide? One reason is that some people do not know what a landslide looks like and also no one was paying any attention to the surroundings. People usually don’t look around when they have sight, it is only when you lose your sight you become cautious about your surroundings. I was the hero who saved numerous lives that day simply because I was blind!

Illustrated - Induwari Wickramasinghe 

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