DIALOGUE IN THE DARK
“When we give
cheerfully and accept gratefully,
everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou
One
of my childhood memories, which, often, flash before me -– particularly when I
try to navigate through the darkness, both, physical and metaphorical –- is
that of uncle Gilbert, who lived in our neighbourhood in Mangalore. It was the mid-sixties;
I must’ve been a kid of age 7 or 8. There was no electricity in our houses… The
kaccha lane, that led to our parish church, was pitch dark in the nights…
The lane was untarred, rough and uneven. Uncle Gilbert, who was in his late thirties
or early forties, lived halfway through this lane. He was fully blind. Yet, he
would never miss a single mass or church prayer service, be it during the day,
or be it during the night. With the help of his stick, he managed to go to
church, and come back on his own, every single day. Many times, some of us,
including little kids, would offer our hands and walk with him. He would keep
us engaged with his interesting stories. I remember asking him, one night,
while helping him back from the church: “Uncle Gilbert, how are you able to walk
though this lane in the nights; don’t you get scared?”
The answer still
haunts me, even after six decades: “Son, for people like me, there is no difference
between a day and a night.”
Yes, as a little
kid, that answer did not sound significant. But, as years rolled by, it,
certainly, did…
The imagery in the
childhood story –- ‘The Blind Man and His Lantern’ –- also, refuses to go… He had been to another village,
and it had turned dark… A lantern was lighted and handed to him… After covering
quite a distance, someone saw him and said, “O blind man, why do you need that
lantern; you are anyways blind?”
Again, the
answer still haunts me: “My friend, that lantern is not for a blind man to see;
it’s for people like you to see a blind man.”
A
while ago, I happened to come across this short podcast video from ‘The Human
Thread’. I was gripped by what the guest (Gurumaa Yogita Khatri) was describing -- her
experience of visiting a restaurant in Hyderabad. The name of the restaurant
was ‘DIALOGUE IN THE DARK’. A sighted young man ushered them inside… where it
was pitch dark, and the food was served only by the blind… When Gurumaa described her experience –- trying to make out, if what she was touching on the
plate was dal, rice, veggies, pakodas, or sweets –-she couldn’t
control her overwhelming emotions… She ran out in ten minutes and just cried
her heart out, realising how fortunate she was for whatever blessings God had
showered upon her… Here is the video…
I was even more
humbled, on reading the very first comment on the video. Guru Moorthy, one of
the five investors in this restaurant, said, that they had to shut down the
restaurant during Covid due to social distancing, and couldn’t reopen it since
then. All five investors, he said, lost the money…
This time, I got
out of chair to cry my heart out… Once done, I started typing this Blog…
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: 1. Gustavo Fring 2. Nathan Marcam
Video: The Human Thread
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