(Courtesy: Vector Clip Art)

  THE

                    DIVINE

                                DECISION



   - P. Krishnamoorthy 

The midday sun was little harsh in the blue skies on that day. The N0.7 train between Manhattan and Flushing, Queens in New York had just  arrived in Queensboro Plaza. I was one of the passengers travelling from Manhattan.  Along with other commuters, a damsel entered into my compartment. She was  blind, and obviously her movements were guided by the  white cane she was holding. . She had a fair complexion and a beautiful face in a scintilating figure.  I could assess her age from her  fine features, that she would be  around twenty.  The only negativeness in  her features was  her blindness. My focus was shifted towards her from the book I was reading as she  mesmerized me even at the first sight. My eyes were riveted on her sublime beauty. It was conflicting  that  in that attractive  creation,  she was  ‘imperfect  permanently  and inevitably flawed’  with  blindness.  

She was ensuring that there were no obstacles on her way into the compartment before she found a seat.   She was just tapping on the ground with the cane  and  made her  move to find out any vacant seat. Probably she should have been a regular commuter of  No.7, as she knew on her right side of the entrance, there were always three seats. She was finding out whether any one of them was  vacant.  Again the cane  helped  in her pursuit. She gently tapped and found the middle seat was not occupied. She was happy on this success and sat on it. She made her next move to see whether anybody sitting on either side of the seats. She stretched her hand in her investigative venture and found  that they were also vacant.  She folded her cane into four parts and secured it in her lap. Finally, as she was comfortable in her seat, she outwardly reacted with a cute smile on her  face. I was amazed at the  meticulous way with which she handled all these successfully without any external help.  However, her face was reflecting a kind of dismal sadness with her  blindness. 

The contrast of her outwardly positive attitude in handling mundane  matters with utmost care even in  public domains against her negativness, was thought provoking to  me,   leading me to imagine what would be her  personal life. If she was blind right from birth, she would  not have had the luxury of seeing all varieties of nature’s splendor and other living things in and around her. On the contrary, if she had the blindness in the middle of her life, she was missing the best yester years including her kith and kin around her.  From  her gloomy face I could presume she had the deformity only in the middle of her life, as her sad face was reflective of what she was missing now.    

I am a devoted believer in divinity and not an atheist. I respect the traditions and connected conservatives who safeguard them..   I remember the saying that ‘all creations are by the grace of divinity’. If that was true, the question arises as to why this kind of  unfairness and  partiality  on the part of  divinity  in creating some  human beings  totally blind in birth or in the middle of  life. Yet I  do not  smear Him with such clear bigotry.  Any amount of justification given for such negative  act  either  thru philosophy or science  were not convincing to me.  I am also not inclined to apply the theological explanation that sins committed by the human beings in previous or present  birth do get  such drastic punishment.   Out of  twenty years of her life, barring  her childhood of ten years, one wonders what major sin she might have committed to  get this punishment of blindness. The dogmatic explanation of some traditionalists that the offsprings were victimized with such deformaties  for the grave  sins committed by their ancestors. According to modern thinkers,  such explanations  are simply superstitious and  puerile.

 My thoughts  were suddenly distracted  when she took out  the  cell phone from her hand bag and spoke to some one in her lingo. Her conversation was brief and  lasted  only for minutes.  I heard  her  melodious voice  in that short  duration . The train was just entering the next station - Woodside-61 street. 

I  went back to my thoughts of her life. On the contrary even though her eye sight was deprived, the mother nature had not penalized and deprived of her inner  adolescent changes at the appropriate age that would include a longing for a love affair. If on the premise that she had one such  in her life,  how she could fall in love with somebody whom she could not see? Why not?   When  she could have invisible  instinctual ways to know her people and other surroundings  thru her subliminal imaginative mind,  she  equally could have somebody selected as her lover. In fact most of us with normal vision, imaginatively or thru ‘day-dreaming’ achieve their unaccomplished ambitions and aspirations in real life. In her instance even she would get or already got a lover in real life, she could mentally visualize him in her own way. Also, as any normal person would like and expect to have a partner without any impediment, she would also be doubly careful in her limited choice. Unfortunately in this mundane and materlistic world, how many would have compassion and good intentions to come forward and accept a blind girl as life partner and be sincere to her.

By the time the train reached Junction Blvd. station. Some got down and after few minutes, the train resumed its journey towards Flushing. She was very keenly following the announcements and anxiously awaiting a call in her cell phone. Little later, the much-awaited call was ringing in her cell phone. This time she was very careful not to interrupt the speaker at the other end, so that  she  wanted to enjoy the caller’s talk.  Even as a silent listener she blushed and her reactions undoubtedly revealed that the caller was specially very dear to her. Her reflective facial expressions were an evidence to disclose that it was from her lover and not from kith and kin. As the call ended, she got up from her seat and stood at the entrance to alight in the next  station. Obviously she was eagerly expecting to meet her dear one.  To her surprise,  the cell phone again rang. After the call, she became very depressed and returned to her seat totally disappointed. She felt even embarrassed on her outwardly emotional expressions.  I was just recollecting  the saying  that ‘even minutes of separation between lovers appear like ages for them’. The train made a intermediary stop in Junction Blvd.

The conflicting issue was,  that while others around her were able to appreciate and review her captivating  beauty and smartness,  it was irony of fate, she was not able  to see  all that of her own  because of blindness.  It was gross injustice on the part of divinity. 

As the train was proceeding, the much awaited call came again  in her cell. With her face expressed her happiness and she was anxiously awaiting for the next station. At Met-Wilets Point the train made its scheduled stop. She got down at this station as per the last call.  

To my amazement the puzzle in my mind as to who could be her lover, was finally solved. There was a young man waiting to receive her. He appeared very jubilant on her arrival; but regrettably he was also blind and holding a white cane with him. With the guidance of the cane he moved towards the train to welcome her. They recognized instinctively and both embraced each other. It was interesting to watch  their initial conversation in silent language. They clasped their hands and in that grip, one could visualize their confidence on each other. She was radiant in joy as both walked together to adore their sublime love. The divine decision of another creation with blindness compatible to her would make their life happy. 

The inspiration for my above imaginative narration was “The short story of a  blind girl” by Mr Stephen in ‘Motivation’ (AcademicTips.com), reproduced below:

“ THE STORY OF A BLIND GIRL

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me? The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:    “Just take care of my eyes dear.”