You taught me....

For some time now, the memory of little Anand has been floating around in my mind and beating in my heart...

He followed me around, this little imp, always with a mischievous glint in his eyes ! Anand, beautiful in a way no other child could ever be ; happiness personified (just like his name indicated) ; taught me what indomitable will and courage were all about...

Anand was an orphan, abandoned and unwanted because he was born a quadriplegic. He had four stubs, for limbs, joined to the torso....close to the ground that so bound him...his face was made beautiful by the presence of a pair of lively sparkling eyes which spoke to you a language which took you beyond mere words ! The rest of the face was what your imagination would make of it. He'd had innumerable corrective surgeries, both on his body and his face, to correct cleft palate, and all sorts of deformities...barely after a month he was born ! I used to work with children having cerebral palsy and thats when he was brought to us from the orphanage as he was diagnosed with C.P. He and I became the best of pals ! He'd shuffle behind me and at speeds you wouldn't imagine possible :). One soon forgot what he 'looked' like..to me he was always beautiful and 'normal', to the extent that there were times when I would even scold him..like I would, any 'normal' naughty pupil in a class ! He knew, he had been abandoned..and he would look at me and ask me why ??? And then when he saw me become sad at that, he would manage a gurgling laugh..whatever sound his tortured throat would permit him..and tell me..that it didn't matter..because he had so much happiness !!! His answer never ceases to amaze me ! He would point at all the other children around him and say..well ..who else lives with their friends always around ??..He would point at the teachers and say..I have so many mums ! Then ...he would look mischievously at me..and say..''and You are my girlfriend !''...Ahhh my nine year old boyfriend....yes indeed...the best young 'Man' ever known to me ! Anand of the indomitable spirit and courage..who taught me about happiness amidst the most harrowing of circumstances. His circumstances. Anand, who taught me the value of appreciating every little thing that we have and truly, we have so much.

Anand, I hope you are well, where-ever you are now...
I miss you but I will always be happy...
Just as you taught me to be.