The family of 5 children; 3 girls who were blind by birth. This family had no exposure to the external world and was grappling with misery, pain and sufferings by raising the blind children and felt that it’s an end of the world for them. These girls were special children and were gifted by god (6th sense) with many special skills and qualities. No one knew what they will do when they grow up, how they will manage their life. One fine day these young girls decided to learn Music & took up the challenge of learning Hindustani Classical Music at the age of 10. Their parents took that bold decision of encouraging them to learn music inspite of societal pressure not to send their children to learn Music. This single choice of their parents to make a happy journey shaped their destiny and life took an unexpected turn and rest is history now.
They learnt music day and night and it became their lifeline over the years. It was heartening to see those tiny fingers trying to play various musical instruments like Harmonium, Tabla, Thamboora etc. In no time they mastered all these instruments and were ready to challenge the world. In the last 10 years they have developed into acclaimed Musicians and started performing across the country, won many accolades, awards and prizes. They have performed in Mysore Dasara, Lakkundi Utsav, Bagalakot Utsav, Youth Festivals, Udaya TV & many more music festivals across many districts in Karnataka. In-spite of their visual impairment they were able to complete Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music with top honors, to the extent that one girl won a University Gold Medal in her Bachelors, she received award from governer of Karnakata Sri. TN Chaturvedi. Today she has opened a Music Academy for those who want to learn Music, she has taught many children and able to inspire people to take up Music. She is the most precious jewel in the family and everyone loves her.
Another girl is a profound writer and she has written more than 150 poems, short stories and has composed all her poems on her own. She uses the script for the blind Braille. she is also a Music teacher in a High School where she teaches Music to hundreds of students every year. She proudly calls herself the messenger of love and peace as you will find Love and peace in MUSIC. She travels 50 Kilometers (35 Miles) everyday to teach Music to young and vibrant Indian children. She is very happy and cheerful as blindness does not bother her anymore as she herself is guiding light for thousands of students who want to learn Music.
Over the years, the family which was helpless and gone through misery, has transformed itself into a Happy environment and proud to have been part of this journey, to have brought delight and smiles on the faces of their loved ones. Over night, everyone in the society who were cursing them took a notice and started praising their courage, commitment, passion and dedication towards Music. When adversity hits you, only few will survive and win over & rest will perish, situations like these will distinguish between the best & the rest.
The true hero’s are the parents who dedicated their life to support these children and now are very Proud and Happy of what their children have achieved. Even though they did not understand the nuances of Music, but devoted their whole life to support these blind children be it taking them to temples at 3:00 am in the morning, or returning home mid night every now & then to help them to complete their Music concerts. The astonishing fact about their parents has the grit, hope, optimism & belief in their children’s abilities that they will win over challenges in-spite of their disability.
In the summer of 2005 one girl had developed a serious health issues and doctors had diagnosed serious infection to her lungs & throat and feared that she may not be able to sing in future for the rest of her life. Doctors advised her to give up Music till she recovers from the infection for about 8 – 12 months. These were the most difficult times for her as she was devastated by the news and was in no mood to give up Music. She challenged her inner self and did not give up Music, but continued her studies practicing Pranayam (Breathing exercises), Yoga and meditation to overcome the infection. Ultimately she could conquer victory over the lung & throat infection and gave several stage performances with all health issues. She was highly determined and never wanted to let her parent’s efforts to go waste.
If you ask them what’s their best moment of life she smiles and says ”I am grateful to god that I was born blind else we would never have found my HAPPINESS and says she never regrets for being blind”. She goes on and says “If there is another life, I want to serve my parents because I need more than one life to serve them.”
The other girl says “She is not blind at all, because she always sees her parents as her eyes, they have always guided her to brightest life which has given her HAPPINESS”
These Sisters found happiness in Music; they are very happy and love their profession and very passionate about their talent.
So happiness quotient is all in the mind, if one decides to be happy, happiness will find you the way these young sisters found their happiness in Music. You have to make efforts to be happy and life will change for ever!!!
Life is a journey and physical inabilities are not obstacles for your ambition. The real inabilities are the huger to achieve, succeed and hunger to win over challenges in life on a daily basis. So simple message in life is “Learn as if you are going to live forever, live everyday as if you are going to die tomorrow”.
