It's not that I haven't been in situations when a question has put me into a deep thought. It's just in Ummeed it happens quite frequently now.
There is this kid Farukh, an extremely adorable kid, who stammers a little. I had noticed it and was thinking of talking to him about the simple techniques of speaking slowly and getting rid of the fear which makes you stammer even more for starters. What I hadn't noticed was that the other kids were taking his case from time to time, and making the situation worse. Today, when I was speaking to one of the older kids, I saw him behind me. I asked him if he wants to say something and he just vanished. While I was about to walk out of the Ummeed door, he came and asked "Didi, mera yeh bolna theek ho jayega naa" (Would I be able to speak properly someday?)
And though for the next ten minutes I assured him with all my heart, and explained all the ways he can work on it, and how he shouldn't listen to other kids, and how he'll be fine; his question filled me with a kind of feeling that I can't box up in words and that stayed with me a little longer than usual. The thing is, very few people will be able to understand the helplessness, that a stammering child feels. Probably, you know the right answer to teacher's question, but you'll not say the answer because you fear you might stammer and then everyone will laugh. Probably, you like studying, but you'll not enter the class for the fear that the teacher might ask you something. Probably, there's so much inside you that you want to scream out from the top of your lungs, but this damn stutter prevents you, it makes you inexpressive, and that in turn makes you feel isolated and low on self-esteem.
Try being inside a child's world, maybe his problems aren't as tall as your problems but then to him they are like giants. I hope I'm able to help Farukh bring down his giants, as I did for myself when I was young.
