by Mandar Kolhapure
From being a hhousewifeto a mother, from being a banker to a real estate broker, Nishigandha did what most of the women do in their regular life. But one day, she decided to step out of the crowd and start her ‘special’ mission. A mission to serve the special children at an academy.
The mission sounded easy but was equally difficult. No experience, no handbook, no guides, no mentor at a totally new environment and new people around. 1st November 2017 was her first day at Pinnacle Recreational Academy which works for special children. The academy started with 2 special kids. The kids, who were not even aware that they are humans, were living a life just because God has blessed them with a physical body or just because they were breathing. Nishigandha started communicating with the kids with a language of touch rather than with a language of words, which they don’t even understand.
Life, body, mind, emotions, desires, love, affection, respect, pride, enjoyment, ego, insult, luxury etc. all these words are not in the dictionary of these special children. However they have a heart, as pure as it should be. They work or live with this heart and their deeds teach us a lot of things. The children, who don’t even know that they are humans, teach us a lesson in humanity. Hope the busy world would pause for a moment and learn from these special children, what mankind is all about. Nishigandha considers herself lucky to serve these special children. She says she could discover her own existence while discovering life. Today the kids are her world and she is their world.
Nishigandha says whenever a special kid is born to parents, they struggle every moment and she has seen their struggle very closely. Whenever such a child is born to a mother, somewhere the ‘woman’ in her dies and only a ‘mother’ is left alive. At this moment, the parents especially the mother needs a strong support and mental counseling which is done by her friend Dr Prajakta Kolapkar. Prajakta answers all their queries patiently, guides them with further education options and also tries for employment of these special kids in certain cases.
God has given me a beautiful life and I have lived it for myself all these years. However God has sent me a message now to serve these kids and I will do it whole heartedly. I would like to see the seed that I sowed growing slowing into a plant and finally a tree and the parents enjoy the fruit. The satisfaction that I get after serving the kids is unmatched and all that I pray today is God give me all the strength to serve them eternally, says Nishigandha.
This is beautiful