My Wings

My Wings by Mohini Sharma
11th May 2011, was the most special day in my life. The day when the morning seemed much brighter and the day when my heart beats were much faster. I woke within a minute when the alarm rang. In fact the night had been too long for me. I was expecting him by 7:30 am and that was still two hours away. Hence I started working though all my attention was at the door bell. First it rang at quarter to seven, and I jumped with happiness but to my disappointment, it was the milkman. Finally, my phone rang. On the other end a man was confirming my address and I said, “Be there, my father is coming within 5 minutes to pick you up.” (I didn’t want him to be late) Soon he was there at my door step with Gabriel, the technician and his assistance along with my father. Stunning, dark and loveable. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him. Finally, I kept on gazing at him; I touched him. It was my power wheelchair. No, it is not any grammatical error that I am calling my power wheelchair “HIM” instead of “IT” but I am intentionally using "him" for my chair because for me, it’s a lot more than just a power chair. For me he is my wings, my independence, my dignity, my "ginny" and everything. I have been dependent for 25 years. I always needed someone to do my things, and I still need someone to do my things but with my power chair things aren’t that worse. I lay in it when I am too tired as it can be turned into bed. I don’t need to call mom anymore to handover the remote, mobile or my spectacles. And a very important thing that I have learned is cooking maggie and tea recently. I proudly go out without anyone’s help. I never thought I would ever enjoy this independence until the idea of having a power chair struck me. There are numerous companies that manufacture power wheelchair, but I wanted it with complete modification, and my problem was solved at Calledai motor works (Chennai). It cost 1.18 lakhs and it is worth it. I know Mr.Bhargava Sundaram since 2005, and it has has been a wonderful journey since then. I found the end of my every problem at Calledai, as I have never heard “NOT POSSIBLE” from Mr.Sundaram. Hurdles in my way are still the same, but "now I feel powerful enough to cross them". Mohini
The author writes regularly for CTH. She may be contacted at contact@crossthehurdles.com