Friendship is a crucial element in protecting our mental
health. Our friends can keep us grounded, help us get things in perspective,
and help us manage life's problems.
“The best thing my friends did for me was that they just
accepted me as I was.” even after acquiring a disability!
However, last week, an ex-colleague and a friend who with I
had a virtual connection broke out into a frenzy of bizarre situations and gave
me anxiety. I met him up after a long exchange of ideas and conversations over
social media and our enterprise network. By then he had already quit the
company I worked for and joined another renowned company in the ITES
(Information Technology Enabled Services) industry. Trust me we had never met
but were able to relate with each other on varied subjects like humor, social
causes and life in general. The day came when I had to meet him for the first
time; we decided lunch and the day, date and venue was decided. We settled down
at a known restaurant that served godly food for a beggar’s price in a relative
way. The weather played a spoilt sport so he reached the venue late, I was
already drooling for the food because of the many aromas clouding the place.
It's not difficult for someone to find a blind person in a
restaurant especially if there is only one of them dining in it. He came up to
my table and greeted me heartedly as if we were long lost brothers. We sat; I
recommended a few dishes that were served in no time and we started to chomp
like there was no tomorrow. In the midst of the chomping, we struck up a
conversation about the social cause he was driving and supporting. It's
literacy for the under privileged by collecting books for them to read. He had
a tie up with a few schools that needed that kind of support and he was
responsible to donate books new/ old to these schools and their library. We
also exchanged our history and what and where we came from. He was a big head
about his heritage and clan of people who did wonders in the world of
literature. I sighed as I had nothing but camels to breed and sell as heritage.
The meal was over and so were the conversations, we did say goodbye until we
meet again. That happened sooner than expected!
Come one fine Saturday; a week after our last meet we met up
again and this time it was at a breakfast for South Indians kind of place that
served snacks and world's second-best coffee. The world’s best coffee is made
by my wife at home. Sorry, that's the truth and the whole truth; coming back to
this friend and my experiences with him. This time we were not alone; 2 other
interesting people joined us for the meeting; they were all returning after
visiting one of the schools that my friend was supporting with the books. I
think the 2 new friends were meeting a blind person for the first time; I did
be my usual self a conversationalist and added a mix of varied topics on the
table to talk about. During our meeting the friend who introduced me to the new
friends; kept telling the others that I am blind but I can pay and order for my
own meals at the breakfast place. He insisted that I demonstrate my skills to
his friends. I had to oblige as there was my reputation at stake and the
perception of persons with disabilities. Honestly, the place was so crowded
that I did ask one of those friends to accompany me to the cash counter and
assist me navigate the table and the crowd that was extremely noisy that day;
the coffee there gets you a high. I asked for the bill amount to be read out
and to be pointed to a QR code for payment; opened my Google Pay app. scanned
and paid the amount. Job done; no point proved. Breakfast was done; we had to
leave the friend who was the book keeper for the schools was busy on the phone
with a family member the conversation took forever to complete. So, I said my
goodbye, this time without the until next time. One of the 2 new friends
dropped me back to my house which was a stone’s throw away from the breakfast
place. The story does not end here; it's just begun!
To be continued…
Read part II here
Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Please share with your network using the share buttons below and comment with your thoughts...
If you haven't subscribed please do by filling out your email ID in the form below and clicking on submit (Check your INBOX OR JUNK folder for the subscription confirmation email.
You can now support The somebody, nobody, anybody and everybody Blog by making a purchase on amazon by clicking HERE or any of the banners on the website. Thank you for your support!
Like what you read? Share it!
Great post!
ReplyDelete