Celebrating parenthood, albeit silently!

On my evening walks, there’s one sight that shall always remain etched in my mind much after I leave Delhi, perhaps to my very end. There’s a seventeen year old boy suffering from Down’s syndrome, who is taken out for his walks under the ever watchful eyes of his father or mother or both. They’re the Baniwals – Col Baniwal is posted in one of the units nearby and they have another son who’s attempting his board exams of class XII right now. The boy in question - I do not know his name and I haven’t had the courage to interact with him or his parents lest I be considered as a guy sympathizing about their plight – is extremely good looking and had his faculties been all right, would have kept the girls in the neighbourhood around him, on their toes, for sure! There’s another army couple who take their daughter out for walks in a similar fashion– another sweet kid with the same problem but compounded with disability of her limbs. Of late, I don’t see her and I presume it’s because of the prevalent cold weather. Since I’m a regular on the circuit, both the kids recognize me and I always wave at them for which I usually get responses, at times, though, prodded by their chaperones. Why has God made them like that, I often wonder and what’s the intensity of the agony their parents are going through? Would the parents, in their heart of hearts, ever wish the speedy ends of their deformed children at a weak moment or even curse their luck?
But one thing about which I’m very sure is that all of them are living heroic and extraordinary lives compared to the normal or even drab life, that I lead. Whenever I see them, I must admit that I celebrate parenthood silently. And I really wish them strength to continue going about their lives as though everything is normal, from the bottom of my heart.