The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman in her white salwar with a stick in her hand made her way carefully up the steps. She used her hands to feel the steel bars, walked down the aisle and found the seat before the bus conductor told her that her regular seat was empty. Then she settled in, placed her handbag on her lap and rested her stick against her leg.
It had been a year since Akshara became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. ‘How could this have happened to me?’ she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth, her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Akshara’s once optimistic spirit. All she had to cling to was her husband Arun.
Finally, Akshara felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Arun volunteered to drive her in his bike to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. At first, this comforted Akshara and fulfilled Arun’s need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however Arun realized that this arrangement wasn’t working - it was hectic, and costly as both of them have to save all their income for paying house loan and other debts to lead a decent upper middle-class life.
Akshara is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile, so angry. How would she react? Just as Arun predicted, Akshara was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. “I’m blind!” she responded bitterly. “How am I supposed to know where I’m going? I feel like you’re abandoning me.”
Arun’s heart broke but he knew what had to be done. He promised Akshara that each day he would be with her in the bus ride until she got the hang of it.
And that is exactly what happened. For two solid weeks, Arun, his work uniform and all, accompanied Akshara to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus driver and conductor who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. Each morning they made the journey together, and Arun would take an auto back to his office.
Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Arun knew it was only a matter of time before Akshara would be able to ride the bus on her own. Finally, after 2 weeks of Arun's help Akshara decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own.
Monday morning arrived, and before she left, she threw her arms around Arun, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, his love.She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…. Each day on her own went perfectly, and now it is almost a year Akshara is travelling in the bus alone.
On a fine morning, Akshara took the bus to work as usual. As she was settled in her seat which was reserved for her by the conductor, the lady next to her said, “Madam, I'm sure jealous of you.” Akshara wasn’t sure if that woman was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year? “Why do you envy me?”
The driver responded, “It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are”. Akshara had no idea what the lady was talking about, “What do you mean?” The woman said, “You know, every morning for the past one year, a fine looking gentleman in a uniform of Maruti Suzuki Service ltd has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss and with a big smile he walks away. He did all these without intimating his presence to you. He did this all the days and now only he got the courage to let you alone. He signaled all of us in the bus to take care of you and left. I came to know that he was your husband when the conductor said it to me yesterday. You are one lucky lady.”
Tears of happiness poured down Akshara’s cheeks. She realised that this is her first trip without her husband's help. For although she couldn’t see him, she had always felt Arun’s presence. She was blessed, so blessed, for he had given her a gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn’t need to see to believe - the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness.
“You don’t love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her…”
So if you love someone be faithful to that person.
- Arun
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