Between three months and six months of age, Subhas had been continuously suffering from fever, which turned into pneumonia when he was six months old. His deafness was identified when he was three years old and his parents were informed about an ear operation. But his parents did not have enough money to make him undergo this operation. Subhas’s parents did not intervene or look into his special need due to lack of awareness and guidance. His disability certificate is still under process and he has not received it yet.

Subhas looks thin and weak, but he is very energetic and enthusiastic. He doesn’t use his hearing aids. He cannot speak much and his main mode of communication is gestures. The only word he can say is ‘papa’. Keeping this in mind, he was trained in lip reading and signing. Subhas now can recognize few words by lip reading.

Ater attending trainings organized by VAANI, Subhas’s mother can see a change in Subhas’s communication skills. She now expects a lot from her son. She wants more and regular trainings on speech and communication. Communication between the parent and child has improved and his mother feels proud that her son has accomplished so much already.

Subhas’s mother wants him to be able to speak one day and be able to communicate with other people.

I am deaf. I sometimes wish people would stop calling me that. It makes me feel as if I do not belong here. But the truth is that I have been deaf since birth. In fact I am the only one deaf in my family. Everyone else is perfectly normal. When people speak to me, they naturally assume that I am hearing and go on talking and after a while they either start enunciating the words exaggeratedly or begin yelling. I used to feel as if I am a lone observer of the world and that everyone is acting around me.

But of late, I feel differently. People hear what they choose to hear. Hearing people also act as if they cannot hear to what they do not want to listen. I choose to listen to the sound of the bell which the pundit rings every evening after the prayers in the mandir next to our house. I choose to listen to the symphony of raindrops which trickle down my cheeks on a slow, monsoon evening. When my parents took me (to) Puri I had chosen to sit and listen to the song of the waves as they formed in the deep ocean, rolled on and broke so softly on the shore. I have read the works of Rabindranath Tagore and tried to smell in his music, look at it with my eyes and feel it in my flesh and bones. It balms my soul and calms down my spirit. What I also listen to is the echoes of ancient, wise voices who whisper in my ears everyday. You will be surprised to know that the language they speak has no words and can be understood by all.

I think that while creating this world God gave only silence to some of our ears to make others realize the joys of sound. And since I am deaf, I don’t have to listen to the endless news of men killing men, the bullets shot and the blood spilled. My father has tried to explain to me several times why wars take place but I just won’t understand. I have seen the look which falls on my father’s face when he talks about wars and I do not want to understand it ever.

Since we cannot hear we have mastered the art of reading expressions. We can easily tell all that is going through someone when they are silent by simply looking at their eyes. Our world is filled with colours and lights and sounds of the other kind. Oh! If only you could be deaf for a day!

My mother once told me that kindness is a language even deaf people can understand. I did not get what she meant. One day, I had gone for a walk with my best friend – my pet dog Cherry, when he got lost. I shouted his name but it was no use since I could not hear him even if he barked in return. An old lady found him and returned him back to me in her lap. It was then that I realized what my mother had meant that day.

I did not like my previous tutor. He made me feel like I have this disability. My father fired him last month. Now I go to a new sign language class. I absolutely adore the teacher of our class. He says that we do not have to pass any citizenship test to be a citizen of this earth. We belong to this earth as much as anyone else does. And the best thing is that he is deaf too. So we can sit and talk for hours and hours about poetry and literature in our own language.

I was glad to learn from him that deaf people all over the world are now participating with hearing people in every sphere of life. I also have a dream. I want to write a book someday and it is obviously not going to be about the miseries of being deaf. Deaf actress Marlee Matlin said that she believes she can do everything, except for maybe sing. I believe I can do too. I am very happy. I have plenty of friends and a loving family and I really cannot ask for anything else.

So there it is – above, in an essay, all that I wanted to say. There is just one more thing left to write before I close the lid of my pen. I think I’m falling in love with deafness.

——-

N.B. – Sritoma is not deaf. This is an imaginative essay.

My uncle and my aunt had met with an accident and had been admitted to the ICU of a reputed hospital. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that my aunt and my uncle were so near death. My parents were busying, calling on the best doctors in Kolkata and ringing up others relatives to tell them about this mishap which had occurred.

Suddenly, i sensed someone is presence right behind me. A little girl of about four came up to me and sat down on the bench. Noticing my tears, she looked at me again, this time enquiringly, a look of warmth and love in her eyes. I wanted to lighten myself, to give up all my troubles, but …but I did not want to burden a four year old with my problems – a four year old who would prefer to jump and play with her friends.

However, I couldn’t keep my tears back. The girl’s warmth brought back memories of my aunt and my uncle, and I was so miserable that I started to cry. I am not ashamed to say that I cried till my face became red. The child looked at me, perplexed. Then it seemed like she had understood. She gave me a bright albeit, toothless smile and a warm hug.

A hug. Yes. That’s what I wanted. I wanted somebody who d tell me that I wasn’t alone. The child had a paper in her hand, which she thrust into mine. I opened it as she looked expectantly at my face. It said, “I am deaf, but that makes me more sensitive to your feelings.”

Surprised, I looked around for her, but she wasn’t there anymore. HOW DID SHE KNOW?

This world has a lot of extraordinary people. Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the long lasting light bulb. How many of us know that he was deaf? One of the greatest musicians of all time, Ludwig Beethoven, was deaf. Yet he wrote some of the most beautiful pieces of all time. Did being deaf stop these people for achieving greatness? I knew a girl once, who went to art classes with me. She drew beautifully, her brush flying on the canvas, making amazing painted pictures. People with disabilities often push themselves the hardest. They overcome every obstacle stopping them from achieving their goal. They treasure what we take for granted. These people make their own opportunities. They dance, do mimes, dramas, art and basically enjoy what they have.

One of my teachers who is deaf, is a whiz on the computer. He also taught mime in our school.

My message to every deaf person is “Do not give up. There is an opportunity for you. Where there is a will, there is a way. Have a strong will to go forward and accomplish something. Whenever you apply for a job or to a new school ask yourself ‘Deaf… So what?”

We are often under the misconception that the most privileged are the physically fit. Yet, challenging this logic, are many heroes standing tall in the world who have been denied certain physical abilities but have learnt to overcome them with strength of mind and magnanimity of soul. Helen Keller could ‘hear’ birds singing by feeling the vibration of trees, Beethoven could compose masterpiece after masterpiece and Marlee Matlin could win an Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’ for ‘Children of a Lesser God’ – in spite of their profound deafness. The lives of physically disabled achievers seem to be guided by the saying – “What the mind can perceive, it can achieve.” In fact, physical deafness matters little when the mind hears. The real incurable deafness is that of the mind. Churchill once said, “Kite risest highest against the wind, not with it” – establishing firmly that challenges bring out the best in one. The hearing disabled have made their mark in all fields including art, sports, academics and entertainment because they have often displayed qualities of mind and heart greater than those endowed with normal faculties.

Yet, they face social stigma. The real challenge of society lies in accepting them as our own, making the ‘physically abled’ learn how to communicate with them and building bridges with them.

It was the thirteenth of August 2007. I had volunteered to help children with hearing disabilities read aloud, at an orphanage for deaf children near my house. I had just finished school, and felt that this would be an interesting way to spend the two spare months I had on my hands before college started.

And so I stepped into ‘Hope Orphanage’ for the first time on August thirteenth 2007. My co-volunteer, a pretty, bubbly girl who seemed to be around my age, greeted me at the gate. We entered the classroom we had been assigned previously, and greeted the children sitting inside.

We set about helping the children correctly pronounce the words of the storybook they held… I found it a little difficult to communicate with them, but my co-volunteer bonded with them at once. She slowly and steadily said the words out loud, so that the children could watch her lips and steadily said the words out loud, so that the children could watch her lips, and see exactly how to pronounce the words.

I suddenly realised that I hadn’t asked this girl her name. “What’s your name?” I said.

She had her back to me. She faced me and said, “Did you just say something?”

I repeated the question. She smiled and said, “Rhea.” She went on to ask me my name. I further found that she, too, had just passed out of school, and was about to start college.

A while later, a couple of helpers from the orphanage escorted the children away for lunch. Rhea and I too strolled out to grab a bite at a café nearby.

“Rhea,” I said while eating, “Do you think those poor, deaf children have a future? Do you think they’ll ever be able to talk and live normally? Do you think they’ll ever learn?”

“Sure,” she said with a smile, “I managed, I’m sure they can too!”

“What…what do you mean?” I stammered.

“I have grown up and studied at this orphanage. I cannot hear sounds the way you can. But this orphanage has taught me to use my eyes and my mind to hear. I am only trying to give back a fraction of what this place had given me. It has given me a new life, it has taught me to think little of this…disability. I am trying to help these children to do the same.”

I was stunned. “But you’re so normal! You’re talking to me, and…and, just….you can’t be d…de…!”

“Deaf,” she said. “Yes, I am deaf…So what?”

My name is Anwesha Biswas, and I am deaf by the ear. I spend every day in rambunctious silence. Yes, I cannot respond to a normal person calling me from a distance. Indeed, random people get rasily irritated by me, as I am unable to communicate with them properly. But after spending fourteen years with my Deafness, I have concluded that my deafness is neither a flaw, nor a drawback. It is a trait, a mere characteristic, that remains unaltered and lasts you a lifetime. Although I am much isolated, different, and PARANOID to most people, I need to make my way through thick and thin and try and be as normal as possible.

Mrs.Benedict was a neighbour from Rajabazar, where we used to live before we shifted to salt lake. She has two sons, who live abroad and a married daughter, currently residing in Chennai. Someone from our deaf community informed me of her being incredibly sick and bedridden. I was devastated, and bought some flowers and took a bus to her place to pay her a visit. She had always been a stubborn old everything, and not very loved. I knocked on her door, her servant opened it. I went in to see, to my utmost astonishment, she was lying there, alone, waiting for a call from universe to die! I slowly approached her, caressed her wrinkled forehead, and kept my flowers by her side. She unfolded her eyelids and saw me standing there. Both of us were silent for some time, and then smiled at each other. “Thank you” she said. “What you’ve done for me is way more than anything I could ask for …especially from a mere neighbour such as yourself! I will forever be indebted to you for your kindness. Goodbye little girl…”

I am trained to read lips and so I was able to follow her. What she said had touched my heart, and I am convinced that what I did touch her’s as well. This proved to me that me being deaf is not the end of the world. Even with my deafness, I can make a difference in a normal person’s life. Yes, I am deaf…So what?

“Saurav and Meena have adopted a child,” he said.

That’s not bad news, I thought.

“The child is deaf,” he said gravely.

We were shocked. “Why?” my mother asked in a hollow voice. My uncle sighed in resignation.

Soon everybody was talking about this – some grieved and some criticized.

“Such children are a burden. Some unfortunate people give birth to such children. Why did they not adopt a normal child?” they asked. I knew thast they had good reason to criticize Saurav and Meena’s decision; but on the brighter side, an orphan would get the opportunity of receiving parents’ love and possibly, a better future.

Her name was Deepanwita. She worked hard, but put up a mediocre performance at the special school she attended. Soon her talent in art was discovered. It started with winning small school-level competitions. However, she climbed the ladder of success rapidly.

Today, I, the ‘normal’ child, am sitting in an office with no love for my job and receiving an ordinary salary. On the other hand, Deepanwita is organising her own art exhibition in Delhi. Deepanwita – the deaf child, the orphan, had remained true to her name and had brought light into her own as well as her parents’ life.

The topic for the essays was: “Deaf…So What?”

Following are the names of the winners in each category: (Click on the name to read the essay)

Mayurakshi Acharya, Apeejay School, Park Street, Class IX

Ashmita Roy, Modern High School for Girls, Class VIII

Sumaiya Nadeem, Our Lady Queen of the Missions, Class VII

We would also like to make a special mention of the following participants: (Click on the name to read the essay)

Ahana Sengupta, Our Lady Queen of the Missions School, Class IX

Sritoma Paul, Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School, Class IX

Esha Das, La Martiniere for Girls, Class IX

Gayatri Dutt, Our Lady Queen of the Missions School, Class VIII

Anwesha Biswas, Shri Shikshatayan School, Class VIII

Revathy Menon, Our Lady Queen of the Missions School, Class VIII

Manya Verma, Akshar School, Class VII

The Top Three essays will be published in The Telegraph in Schools.

Congratulations to all the winners!

“No,” Draco replied “I think she can’t hear.” All his friends guffawed loudly.

“Well, I’m going to make her,” I challenged. “Really Samantha?” he sneered. “We’ll see that.”

The subject of our conversation, Bella was looking horrified as we left the room. I guess she had lip-read.

“What have you done? The competition is three weeks from now,” she groaned. The enormity of what I had just done dawned upon me. Challenging Draco was no joke and if I lost he won’t let me hear the end of it.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing,” I lied. “Meet me at my house at two,” I enacted the words.

My friend, Cedric, Tyler and Ashley reluctantly joined my dance group and I started teaching Bella the dance steps from that day itself. She was very passionate about dance and in a few days she knew all the steps.

But the problem that faced us now was how was she to coordinate the steps with the music. While we were pondering over the solution to the problem, Ashley suddenly gave a cry of joy and rushed to write something on a paper which she showed to Bella. Her face broke into a grin and she walked over to the stage.

Then, even before the music started Ashley started clapping. It wasn’t the usual clapping. It was more like she was giving a one second gap between each time, her hands met.

I got the trick. Now we were supposed to show Bella the right steps to go with the beat of our hands.

The day of the competition came. Tyler was backstage with Bella and he escorted her to the stage when her name was called out. Bella looked nervous. And then…

To the surprise of the entire stadium three people sitting at the front row now started clapping. It wasn’t the usual clapping. It was more like they were giving a one second gap between each time their hands met.

Bella danced beautifully. I got my reward seeing her ecstatic face and also my satisfaction on seeing Draco’s jaw drop.

Three weeks from the competition the results were out. It was then that I found a sense of overwhelming pleasure in Draco’s sulky and morose face.

Bella was deaf…so what?