A sound Miracle.

Feel good stories are not something that I am usually good at, but some times you really need to put it down, maybe just to remind you that things are really not that bad to never lose hope.

About two and half years back, A small boy in north central India was diagnosed as having severe to profound hearing loss. Hailing from a lower middle class family with limited means, it was almost certainly a sign of doom for the child. The best hearing aids their money could buy did precious little to help him hear. Till one day, they attended a Cochlear Implant Education Program (CIEP).

Here they got information that meant a cusp in their lives. Here was a device that offered new hope and maybe a better quality of live envisioned till now. It was a device which could make their child, till date a stranger to sounds, hear again. Maybe learn to call his parents mom and dad in the normal way. Maybe, learn, understand and enjoy birdsong, the pitter patter of the first rain which till date was just a musty odor.

On hearing the cost of the whole operation and the subsequent therapy required, the father (the only wage earner of the family) was staggered, a feeling not very new to Indian fathers and mothers when they discover their children are hearing impaired. But, with typical Indian sanguinity and faith, he shrugged his shoulders and went to work.

Hard were the insults to bear, the insult to his pride when he had to spread his hands towards neighbors, family and so called friends. To collect monies he knew could change his boy’s future. He changed four jobs, because employers were not interested in his sob story, they could not understand why the assembly line had to suffer just because his young son was deaf and that he had go ask for donations from friends and strangers alike.

Insults such as, “Why don’t you put him in the orphanage? Abandon the child; you cannot take care of him. Turn him over to the state.” Were commonplace to him. With Mahatma like patience and humility he withstood all and went about his task of making his child’s future secure. At the end of it all, he had a sum of Hundred thousand rupees, about one sixth of what he required for the operation. By now he had already changed four jobs and relocated thrice.

At his final destination he met an Audiologist who referred him to a leading hospital and surgeon in Bombay where this surgery routinely occurs. The importance of this decision was that the Dr in question was very successful in raising funds for the needy and a letter from him was something that would ease the fund raising troubles a little, With great hope in their hearts they came to Bombay. Strangers in a strange land, with almost no money to stay in hotels in this oh so expensive city, they stayed at stations braving heartless people and police batons. They moved from station to station when the police got too much to handle. One man, woman and a deaf child. They had no idea that there were shelters to be had just outside one station, a temple that let people use the dormitory for free and also provided food at hugely subsidized rates.

Finally they met the good doctor at his free OPD and got the required letter. They also got a list of people and trusts to whom they could apply for funds. Returning to his town, the father went about applying in his usual fashion. Couriering scores of applications and getting rejects as he went about baring his soul and pride to the refusals to strangers again.

Recently we conducted another CIEP in his town. Reading the Ad, he came to me and said, “Hello sir, we have spoken often on the phone but never met before. I am ---.” I recognized him and asked about his son’s progress. He said the son was doing fine, but he wasn’t. Looking at his eyes I felt, the least I could do was talk to him awhile. Out came the complete story, all the pain and anguish, the rejections, the humiliations, everything. A person, who had spent the last couple of years of his life asking strangers to help, now felt only a stranger could understand his burden. Things had come to such a pass, that he said he was contemplating something that should never be. Shocked and scared at my inability to console him, I sternly told him that this could never be, that he had to think of his family. He replied that it was the only thing that was stopping him. Finally after some more useless platititudes, I took his leave and left his town.

A couple of days later, I got a call from someone, telling me that there were funds available for one CI surgery, if we had a good candidate. The only rider being that the surgery should be scheduled immediately. I almost screamed over the phone, there is this --- from ---. He has already done the prelim work up and also has a date for this week. Then came the bombshell, this person wanted someone from some other region. I said, I will check, but please keep him in mind. At the end of the day, came the message that brought a smile to my face and a glow to my heart. --- has been selected for surgery and is coming down to Bombay. I was with a friend then and in a theater, I almost jumped for joy. With great control I asked if this was confirmed. And yes it was.

It was another auto major who had contributed. I thank all Indians who have ever bought their vehicle in the last forty years or so of their existence, they have saved not one but so many lives. Every time any of you rides an auto or a certain brand of bikes, I want to thank you for giving a child the gift of sound. God bless you all. Amen.