Touch

I usually walk to my workplace which is one and a half kilometer from my home. The brisk walk is refreshing.

once I saw a blind person waiting to cross to the other side of the busy road, nobody was feeling helpful I suppose that day. So just when I reached him the signal for pedestrian crossing was green. I gripped his hand and pulled him (literally manhandled) along with me to the other side. I asked him where he wanted to go and he named his destination and the bus number. The bus was in the stop about to leave when I waved frantically at the driver, who fortunately saw my kathakali actions and stalled the bus. I led him to the bus and somebody helped him to get into it. I forgot about the episode.


After a month or so I saw him again in the same spot. This time though there was quite sometime before we crossed but I had already held on to his hand. He turned to me and said “Thank you for that day. I was in a hurry and I could not thank you.” I laughed heartily and said how did you know it was me? He replied that he identified the touch and the perfume.

he told me his name was Prashanth and he worked for a wrist watch assembling unit. He said he also was an expert in making chairs and candles. It saddened me when he said that their watch making unit was under loss and will be shut down completely in a matter of days. I took his contact number. He had a cell phone with him and he identified the numbers by touch. He replied in the negative at my query, if it was a special handset for the visually impaired.He saved my number in his cell, of course I was impressed.

My best friend Ram has adopted a blind school in Shivamogga . Ram is a banker by profession and spends all his spare time and weekends in the school. He is supported by his wife in this noble activity. Probably he can find how best to employ Prashanth at the school.