The color BLACK

A few weeks back, I was watching the dance reality show 'Jhalak Dikhla Jaa' on Indian television. The show is similar to the American reality show 'Dancing with the stars'. That week's theme was colors. One of the contestants and her choreographer were given the color 'Black'. They chose to do their act blindfolded....to depict darkness associated with the color black. Their act was good and after it was done, the contestant mentioned how difficult it was to perform the act since they were blindfolded and could not see anything. To this, one of the judges remarked how there were many such people in this world who could not see and the only color associated with their life was the color BLACK.


Yes, there are many in this world who have been denied eyesight. But so many of them have not let that come in their way. A few days ago, I read the story of Garima Goyal, who had to give up her dreams because of an irreversible and degenerating eye condition.....but who then decided to fight it out and has gone on to become one of India's first visually challenged media graduates. Her brother, Ashish Goyal, suffering from the same condition, has gone on to become the first blind person to graduate from Wharton and is the first blind trader at JP Morgan's London operations. Truly inspiring stories.


There are many such inspiring stories of historically famous people. Louis Braille, who invented Braille writing which enables people who are blind to read by feeling a series of organized bumps representing letters. Helen Keller, who was the first blind person to graduate college. Stevie Wonder, who is a prominent figure in popular music. Andrea Bocelli, who is an Italian tenor. None of these people let their visual impairment impede their lives.


I do believe strongly in the fact that things happen for a reason. The fact that I saw the dance reality show on the color black and then read about the Goyal brother and sister inspired me to write this blog post. But somehow today just writing did not feel sufficient. The need and desire to do something more arose. So today I did something which frankly had never ever crossed my mind before. I went on to the website http://www.donatelife.net/, picked my state in the US and signed up to become an eye donor. After I am gone, I hope to pass on the gift of sight to somebody else. My husband knows about my decision to donate my eyes and when my kids grow up, I will make sure they know too....so that when the time comes, my eyes can help someone else see.


Signing off being thankful for the blessing of eyesight that I have and this quote by Helen Keller


'The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision'.