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| Photo Courtesy: shadowness.com |
I am attempting something new today. There’s fiction and then there’s revelation. It’s a little long than my normal posts 1750 words to be precise, but hang on guys, I think you will enjoy it. So read on.
***
That special morning was finally here. Guddu was up early and was ready before his usual time. He looked in the mirror and checked if he had brushed his hair properly, and if his shirt was tucked in. He was excited for this day.
Rinky entered the room and was surprised to see her little baby up and ready for the first day at the new school. She looked in the bright green eyes of Guddu and felt happy inside, Guddu was so pure, and he was so well behaved all the time.
“I can see someone is up already”
“Yes Ma, … I..I.. am ready too”
“And what is this? You have packed your bag also?”
“Yes.. I..I packed them”
“Ohh… good boy, now come let’s go for breakfast”
Rinky smiled watching her over-excited son, as Guddu broke into a sprint towards the breakfast table. She hoped everything will be fine with her little baby at the new school in this new city. Rinky was more nervous than little Guddu.
***
Guddu broke off from the tight hug of his mom and ran inside the school, his eyes lit up as he saw the stair case on two sides of the big corridor that led up to the classes on the first floor, and the lively lush green school ground lay beyond the corridor at the end, and it looked inviting. But Guddu had to climb the staircase towards his class on the first floor like he had done on the orientation day last week.
He ran up the stairs and couldn’t wait to get into the class and make new friends. As he reached the landing, he could see the classrooms on both sides and chattering sounds coming out of them. His eyes searched for IIIA and he spotted the classroom just a little ahead and he started walking towards the room.
He was excited but there were these butterflies in his belly, he kept reminding, this is a new school and new people, everything will be fine. He entered the classroom, and smiled at some of the boys who looked at him.
“Hello, what’s your name?” asked one, while offering Guddu a seat in the same bench
“Rohit”
“New here?”
“…Yes”
Guddu and the other boys settled down as the teacher entered the class. Guddu was happy to be in this new class, the boys around seemed friendly with happy faces, not like the earlier school. He was so happy that dad got transferred to Mumbai from Pune. He felt he will enjoy this school.
Rohit waited anxiously for his name during the roll-call. He wanted to be attentive so that he didn’t miss telling ‘present’.
“Rohit Sharma” the teacher called out.
“Yes.. p..present”
It felt like a jolt when his name was called, but he was happy that it was over.
“Rohit Sharma please stand up”
After finishing the attendance call Preeti Mam, asked for Guddu again. He rose up slowly thinking why she would ask him to stand up.
“Class say hi to Rohit, he has joined our class from today”
Hello Rohit, came in chorus.
Rohit could manage a feeble hi to that.
“Okay Rohit, please tell us something about yourself”told the teacher
Rohit thought for a moment, this isn’t what he was expecting but he thought he might do it.
“My name i..is Rohit Sh..Sharma. I study in Bom..Bombay Scotti..ish, I love crick..cket, re..eadin, and m..my di..iidi, Ma & Pap..pa”
But before he could finish the boys burst out laughing. They looked at Guddu as if he was some clown.
“Settle down Class, I don’t want laughing”called out Preeti Mam
“Rohit is new here, Sanjay, Rahul, Jacob, you will be friends with Rohit. And now settle down for class” she said before turning towards the black board.
Guddu sat down slowly, his world crumbling down around him. He couldn’t see the blackboard clearly even while sitting in the second bench. He could feel his eyes well up. The green bright eyes were wet as tears rolled down his cheek.
He could feel Sanjay, the boy seated next to him, giggling to Jacob
“This Rohit stammers, so funny”
This is not what he had thought this school to be, he thought they will not be like the other boys from the earlier school. But he felt scared. He felt like howling.
***
As days passed by Guddu turned quieter, he only spoke when he was spoken to. He tried to be good to others, but didn’t like it when they bullied him, in class, over lunch, or even in the play ground. He felt all the boys were same. Boys at his previous school, in his colony in Pune all made fun of him. So what he took time in finishing his lines? But all of them laughed at him. He had thought the new city, the new school, new classmates, new friends will be different. But no, none of them were. All were mean to him, only people who loved him were his didi, ma and papa. They never made fun of him, they never laughed at him.
Rinky also noticed Guddu turning quieter by the day, she encouraged him to go out and play with other kids but he refused, he spent hours in his room playing with his hot wheelz cars. Rinky felt Guddu had a world of himself. She was getting worried; the poor kid was facing the brunt of the society for having speech disorder. She knew she needed professional help for his baby. She couldn’t let the bright kid to get disillusioned and lose his confidence.
Rinky searched in the newspapers, read magazines and went to the child specialist to find out how she could help her son. Doctor Rati, the child specialist, told her, these are common problems and with age it will become okay. But Rinky knew she needed to help her son now, before he went into a shell and it was too late for her to help. She came across a speech therapist with the help of a neighbour’s relative, and thought she should give it a try.
She took Guddu along and enrolled him in the speech therapy classes. Guddu met with kids from different backgrounds in Doctor Ramesh’s speech the class. Guddu for the first time felt, he was not the only person, who took time to finish his sentence. He was not the only one who had difficulty in pronouncing words. Doctor Ramesh was very kind, he was very patient, and no one here made fun of any one. They used to learn words, they used to have fun in pronouncing words in different ways. Guddu, gradually started enjoying these evening classes.
Guddu loved reading, he loved reading thrillers, mysteries and science fictions. He wanted to be like the heroes in the stories. He wanted to fight the evil and be a winner. He read out the books aloud. This one advice of Dr. Ramesh had helped him immensely. He read out the books loudly, so that he could hear what he was speaking. He heard how he was pronouncing. It became his habit. Every evening at the class everyone had their reading sessions and every one read aloud. Guddu progressed really well.
He was practicing his speech therapy for five year now and he was much more confident than before. Now in his seventh standard he made friends, and holds conversations. He thinks in his mind what he speaks, and within a fraction of a second he speaks the line silently in his mind before actually telling it. He practices speech therapy every day.
***
Guddu today has grown up to be a fine human being, he passed his Bachelors of Commerce with flying colors and had a scholarship from a US University. But he chose what he desired from his childhood, to quash evil and beat the mean guys, he has become a hero, a super hero infact. A hero whom Indians cherish, a hero who surpasses everyone, a hero who is loved by millions. He has grown up to be our own Greek God Hrithik Roshan.
***
Hrithik Roshan is not only my favorite actor/star/hero, he is also a very special person for me. I don’t know him personally nor does he know that I exist. But his life, his challenges and the determination that he has shown every time for all of those challenges is pure brilliance and his determination. In spite of being a public figure he never shies away from admitting the fact that he suffered speech disorder and he still practices speech therapy everyday for an hour. He inspires kid through his story to overcome this handicap. He is not only a super hero because he plays Krrish, like a true super hero he has donated two million rupees for speech and hearing wing at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai in his grandmother Ira Roshan’s memory.
He is the Greek God, the Sexiest man on Earth according to some magazine, he is a good man by nature and he has faced such extreme challenges when due to a spine problem, doctors had ruled out his possibility of dancing or acting ever. And look where he is. With a double slip disc he was at home resting and his waist went on to 36” and look at his physique in Krrish3 which he achieved in 10 weeks. Isn’t that what Super Heroes do? Overcome every challenge thrown to them.
But there is one thing which I can never forget; at an IIFA award function while receiving his Best Actor award he made a statement, ”If a person like me can reach till here, then impossible is nothing”.
He might be an inspiration for many for his physique, but he himself is an inspiration for many who are challenged by a hard truth called stammering or stuttering. And guys, like he would have said –‘Impossible is nothing’, and we all are super heroes who can overcome any challenge. The super hero is inside every one.
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| That’s him During the Inauguration of this special wing at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai |
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| Hrithik Roshan with Dr. Ramesh Oza Photo: Courtesy: Hindustan Times |
Disclaimer:
1. Names used in the fictional story are close to reality, but the characters share no resemblance nor are the incidents real. They are inspired
2. While writing this post in the afternoon, I didn’t know who Hrithik’s doctor was, but while searching the net for a picture of Hrithik+Speech Therapy to go with this post, I came across this image where he is hugging Dr. Ramesh Oza who is the head of the Audiology & Speech Therapy at Nanvati, Mumbai. I read up little more and it seems he has been Hrithik’s speech therapist who treated him when he was 13-14. This is an amazing coincidence for me.
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Linking this post to Write Tribe ‘s Festival of Words, and today’s challenge was An Inspiring Story. I have joined in at Day 3 because I stumbled upon this site on that day. But better late than never!
Today on Day 5 I have to write about my own inspiring story, or someone who inspires me. There are two people who have inspired me to become a good human being. And Hrithik is one of them, so I definitely had to write about him. The other person is of course Sachin Tendulkar whose story is equally inspiring, who makes you a better human being.
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4 comments
Aaahhh the good ol duggu story! now converted into a guddu story 🙂 his life is an inspiration to many especially due to his stammer problem..
Richa
Yep, the Duggu Story, didn't want to give out the name so soon.
Duggu is an inspiration to many and he is such a humble man. Beautiful story Tina and just shared on FB:)
Hey Thanks Vishal. Thanks for sharing.