A WALKING STICK OR A CRUTCH?
Pic.: Ashok Ahuja O ne of the scenes I loved the most in the Hindi movie – ‘Black’ was this: Mr. Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) has, already, brought his deaf, dumb and blind student, Michelle, (Rani Mukherjee), this far… But, he can see her helplessness without him, her dependence on him… He knows, that she cannot, and should not, cling to him lifelong… that, he can’t be there around, always… So, he has brought something that can do away this clinging, this helplessness… It is a walking stick. When Michelle senses, by touching it, that her dear teacher wants her to walk with the help of a stick, she bursts out, angrily - “No!” Mr. Sahai is kind, yet, firm. “This will make you independent,” he tells sternly to Michelle, “and not dependent.” There is so much depth in that scene, that, I keep talking about it to my students and their parents, whenever I feel, I should… I did it today, once again… Nupur* was my dear student some twenty-f...