May 2018

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
― Leo F. Buscaglia

ith the smile that gloss and glazes like sunbeam-that shines with the aplomb welled up –Anugrah, frail and limp , climbs down the steps of the elementary school closely followed by Phathima Bismi ,his alter ego . Anugragh the boy , afflicted by cerebral palsy is in the lead and the little girl who had been his crutch to lean on from first standard onwards is close to his heels .They wistfully bid adieu to the school as they have to be moving to the higher secondary classes in another school.
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On a rainy june day seven years back, Anugraph came to the school, his body hung on the mom’s shoulder, limbs emaciated and drooping who cannot articulate well. His mother must be near if he has to read, write, drink or to eat. He could not do anything on his own. Cerebral palsy is a loss or inability to control over the body movements; or motor problems in regulating the hand and arms during manual tasks. These losses or impairment of motor functions arise due to abnormal or incomplete brain development .

Bismi watched the mother and the teachers handle him and now she could tend him by herself. The boys mother, being pregnant for the second time stopped coming to school. When Manikandan ,his father comes to school with Anugrah on his bycycle ,Bismi will be ready to take charge of her friend . With books in one hand and the boy half her weight saddled on the left of the wasp waist, she would ramble round through the gardens, class rooms. The tender girl treated the boy as if her own little brother-assisted him in class portions, washed his hands, fed him -took him to the lavatrine, helped him hygienic-all by herself as a mature women above her age. She nestled him close till his third standard, thenceforth he learnt to walk himself.

Bismi has lifted the differently abled boy to the full of the joys of spring, who in most likelihood would have tethered to his own world. When he ran she also ran with him lest he should fall -a bonhomie as scarce as hen’s teeth beyond the cliché of cast, creed or colour. Now Anugrah can walk without fear of fall. He slowly regained the articulative skills. He studies, dances, write storeys and even take part in school dramas. The teaching faculty did all the care and help to the boy. The doctors attest that it was the self-confidence imparted by Bismi which alone took him through the ordeal while the presence of the caring teachers and parents created congenial atmosphere .The solace and succour that Bismi brought in was a matter of astonishment for her teachers ,students and the family .She has become a model .By the time the boy reached 7thbstandard in the Parambinkadavu Mommed Abdulrahman Memorial Upper Primary School ,the pupil were ready at any time to take care of the boy. The school provides all necessary background for the differently abled students to complete the primary classes.The children hogged the media lime light and the external world took note.

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