Meri Aawaz - My Voice

Last week, I read about Brenda Jensen, a 52 year old woman who underwent a rare transplant surgery at the University of California Medical Center in Sacramento, California. An international team of surgeons replaced Jensen's voice box in an 18 hour operation in October 2010. It was the second successful voice box transplant in the world. Just 13 days after the operation, Brenda Jensen who lost her voice after a breathing tube permanently damaged her airway, spoke after 11 years of silence to tell her surgeons....I want to go home. And through the miracle of science, she had her voice back.


Our voice...distinct to us. My Mom once mentioned that whenever I call her, I never tell her my name...it's always just...Mom, it's me. And of course my voice gives me away and she knows exactly who it is at the other end of the line.


I use my voice in so many different ways. I use my voice to express love and I use my voice to get angry. I use my voice to be persuasive and I use my voice to soothe my children. I use my voice when I am happy and I use my voice when I am sad. I use my voice to talk to friends and I use my voice to talk to strangers. I use my voice to sing. I use my voice to express my opinion. I use my voice to argue. I use my voice to be a tease and I use my voice to be a voice of reason. Sometimes, I use my voice rashly without thinking and sometimes, I use my voice carefully after a lot of thought.


But then, regrettably, there have been times in the past when I have not used my voice. I have not used my voice to say 'Sorry' and have ended up losing people close to me. I have not used my voice to clear up misunderstandings not realizing the importance of the other person in my life. I have not used my voice to say 'I love you' to the people in my life who mean everything to me.


Signing off using my voice to say 'I love you' to my family and friends who complete me and these lines from a Hindi movie song


'Naam gum jaayega, chehra yeh badal jayega...Meri Aawaz hi pehchan hai, gar yaad rahe'
Translated : Name and face may change, but my voice will remain the same, if you care to remember'