When you view those around you with your glasses tinted with prejudice, distrust or misinformation, you are likely to know them less, underestimate them or even lose them totally.

It is a good idea to check the glasses, to wipe off accumulated mist of ignorance, of opinions, prejudices and what not!

Let me recount one incidence that is more recent. While driving home to my flat in Bannerghatta Road from my previous work place, Alliance University, Anekal, I usually take the less congested Jigani Road. I like the route because of the exquisite beauty of the surroundings, the sprawling trees that border the roads, the site of fields, lakes and greenery does make it worth fighting your way through rather heavy trucks and vehicles that occupy the road. One day while returning home, I notice a man riding a bike at high speed, his left leg precariously stretched out and I can’t but nod my head at the antics of young people prone to theatrics on the road. As I come nearer, I realize to my dismay that the leg is a Jaipur foot and feel remorseful for having judged him wrongly.

Balraj,my brother, was not well and was wheel chair bound.That he was physically immobile did not in any way hamper his intelligence, now this fact, was missed out by even the most knowledgeable and learned.So it happened once that there was this rather heated conversation about his condition and the difficulties it caused right in front of him. He listened quietly and when he was alone later he asked my mother, ‘amma, why do people think I can’t understand what I hear, if it is in English?’.  Somethings, some situations can only be sighed at, so it was for amma that day.

Before rushing to condemn and criticize, take a moment to revisit the thought so that what is said  is also sensible and better still sensitive to others feelings!

Tinted glasses often cloud the vision

what looks happy may yet be lonely

that which looks rich may just be poor

what we tout as not being right

may sometimes be a plight

smiles do drown  tears

hearts grin even in pain

a splash here, a dab there

may just be an attempt to hide

scars of living and sometimes of giving

or maybe those sore pores of yearning

gaps that seem never to fill

hopes that elude realization

trapped in the world of fantasies

dreams that are still a-chasing

destinies scrambling for destinations

of choice, of love, of comfort

what is is often, what is not!