It was last year, I hurried to catch up with a conference-streaming that I was to cover for my blog. I was late and by the time I reached, I thought the main speakers would've had already finished with their sessions. And I was right. The main speakers had already left the stage. Not expecting much, shoulders drooped, I decided to cover whatever was left of it. It was then the hostess appeared on the live-screen and introduced everyone to a twenty-something female. At first, I didn't think anything was out of ordinary, until that is, the girl took the microphone and started narrating her story. The next 25-30 minutes, had my jaws dropping, eyes-unblinked at the incredible story I've ever heard of an amputee climbing the Mt.Everest; the hurdles and challenges she overcame along the way. And not just that, having tamed the Everest already, she was now yearning to climb and conquer all the peaks in the world. I was left awestruck. She got a standing ovation too from the audience. And yes, you guessed it right - she was Arunima Sinha. Naturally, when I came to know of the JSW WillOfSteel Awards, my first thought was about that brave girl. And there she was, on the main page itself. I was so happy that I voted instantly, without a second thought. But as I browsed through the other nominations, I was left amazed at the incredible stories of each one of them. So, I went on a voting spree, as you can see from the image below, whom all I voted.  I voted specially the ones who overcame traumas & tragedies and faced life boldly and also the ones who made any differences in other people's lives. I have the highest regards for those who overcome physical challenges and do something so inspirational, like Arunima did, proving that life can't be limited just by disability. I look at them with awe, because I myself had gone through such harrowing near-fatal circumstances, almost losing my eye-sight and limbs. I still go numb when I remember the nasty road-accident we had, on the highway, when our bus collided headlong into a huge iron container ( used in transport ), reducing the bus to half its size and smashing the glasses to smithereens; and during which I crashed my head badly, losing my eye-sight for almost an hour, with no certainity if I'd ever get my eye-sight back, which luckily I did. And in another incident, I collapsed one day, because suddenly one of my legs had lost all sensitivity and I could not feel the limb at all, which led to the fear of being permanently wheel-chair bound. Remembering those dark moments still sends a chill down my spine, because when one faces such situations, life becomes a maze of infinite gloom. And to think, these people having gone through similar and much more painful situations, and have overcome'd them too - I bow my head many times in respect. Also, when everyone is so busy into themselves these days, leading their selfish pursuits, having hardly any time or consideration for others or the environment around; the acts of a brave few, who has made a differences in other's lives is so praiseworthy. So, I voted all I could find, those doing even an iota of good work for others, to show my full support. Do, let me know if I missed out any and go ahead and vote your own favourites too. Let's help them achieve the recognition they truly deserve :-)  |
Wow! Nice post. I enjoyed reading it. Inspiring and beautiful! Do visit my post too on Paint the world with words! :)
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Amreen