A Dialogue In The Dark

What amazes me most is the practicality of the approach and the experience it provides to the gen folks. A must visit for everyone, this is a new step (actually they started out in 2010, I just visited recently) towards empowering the differently-abled people.

To those of you who have no idea about what I am ranting -  'Dialogue In The Dark' is an initiative to make a gen  person experience how it feels to step into a blind man's shoes.

The Hyderabad 'Dialogue In The Dark' (the only 1 in India) provides 2 modes of enlightening the public - 'The Exhibition' and 'The Taste Of Darkness'. I was so amazed by 'The Exhibition' that I decided to  go for the 'Taste Of Darkness' too.



The Exhibition - We were made to remove our spectacles, watches and other things leave for some cash which we could spend in the cafeteria inside. Our guide was a woman named Bina and she was to lead the way for the entirety of the trip.

Being blind and not able to see anything, we were led into a pitch black dark room where we were given white cane / blind sticks to help us for the rest of the journey. I realised how heightened our other 5 senses (including the 'sixth sense' could be when we were deprived of using our eyes;  the sweat from an uncle's shirt felt like an unbearable smell and maybe a pointer for others who were trying to locate him ( :P ).

 

Bina asked us our intros so that she could get acquainted with us. For the first time not being able to express myself and not having the person in front judge me by my style and attire meant I had to 'talk the walk'. It was hard as I groped for words to build a simple yet great impression to my listeners. In the dark I understood the true reality - I was not a flashy smart engineering student neither the sarcastic witty blogger which I tried to project myself as but a shy introvert kid.

We were first led to a park, we felt the trees and water flowing and heard the chirping of birds. I have been to many parks in my 20 years but this was the first time I actually understood the beauty of the park.

 

Next we were taken to the supermarket. This didn't interest me much as I am very poor with identifying cutlery and spices. My mother though had a gala time, she kept shouting 'cardamom', 'coffee' and others as she excitedly fiddled through the boxes kept on the shelves.

The cricket game was what blew my mind. I was given a bat to hold and  without actually seeing the ball I had to trace and hit the ball through the sound it makes. easier said than done I scored 2 runs before Bina cleared the stumps with a straight ball.

After a drink in the cafeteria we came out to light. 45 mins had passed though it felt like only 10. It was then that we realised Bina was actually visually impaired.

It was ironic how the blind led the pack through the entire trip. For the entire 45 mins we were guided by her -  we would have been lost if not for her. 'Differently-abled' ! What an apt name given to them, they are able enough to lead us through places where even the toughest of the people would freak out !!