Last evening I got to see a rather delightful movie about a man called Srikanth, a blind man who takes the world by storm, who refuses to accept a business award in a special category instead claiming to work harder and come back and win eventually. That way he does not acknowledge what we would think is a huge disability, a non-working sense of sight. The movie starts with the song “Papa Kehte hain” and plays all through, it is so apt in its use as a background score that it is still playing in my head. So peppy and aspirational just like Srikanth’s spirit. He dreams a dream, he has a vision, he has the tenacity and finally he has the humility, all the ingredients for success, also whipping up a few along the way as and when the need arises. All these do not require the visual sight, ofcourse with a little bit of help from his friends.
The movie also touches upon heart-warming details where Srikanth with his lovely sense of humour adds a touch of extraordinary to the ordinary. When life gives you lemons they say, but this man refuses to believe that he was dished out the lemons in the first place! Rolling with the punches takes a new meaning, but all his achievement is because of who he is and should not be read in context of his physical attributes he says, that way normalising a spectrum of perceived issues. At the end of the day in life, all that matters is the lives you touched, the feelings you happily embraced and accepted the randomness of life, taking it in as bonus to the efforts one puts in. The cants are many, even in science till it is proven to be cans, and this is one such man.
The best thing about Srikanth is his spirit for sure, not to mention his intelligence, I barely remembered Ohm’s law when my brother quizzed me about it recently while I have always loved physics. The human brain is so malleable, when unused the neurons happily die and build newer ones that is useful for the situation life presents one, like I now have developed patience with a 7-year old who detests reading and doesnt want to learn. Thats the beauty of the brain and of the human body, it always finds a way when it wants to, whether it is self-healing acne or cancer. Repressed emotions that are said to cause un-ease and hence disease, are released from the brain when the brain seems fit. The brain and hence the mind is super powerful, with or without the senses, and what can be said of the spirit, when aligned, we are all in, bound to win, even when playing blind!
Vedasri Siddamsetty 