For the last few months I have been feeling a mild pain at the joint of my second
toe with my foot. Left leg. I feel it only when I walk fast or walk for a long distance.
I am used to walking 7- 8 kms every day and sometimes I cross 10 kms. Now,
this pain is annoying. I enjoy my morning walk and am worried that I may have
to reduce my walking. This situation is bothering me a bit. I am considering
seeing an orthopaedician.
I was in the market this morning. My wife was looking for an exact match for
her saree (It seems like god is yet to create that. He created the saree and
forgot about the matching blouse piece) and I was standing outside the shop
observing the happenings around me. In between the ever hasty and rash two
wheelers, three wheelers and cars, I saw an unusual three wheeler being ridden
by a girl. It was a tricycle. It had a basket in the front and one at the back and
two slots on the handle in which were inserted two crutches. The girl, a teenager,
was pedaling it confidently without bothering about the zooming motor vehicles
around her.
The girl came close to where I was standing, stopped in front of a hand cart, selected
some vegetables while sitting on her tricycle, put the vegetables in the basket in front
of her and paid for them. Next, she stopped in front of the bakery close by and shouted
out her order. The bakery owner wrapped her order and requested a customer who
was in front of the counter to hand it over to the girl. The parcel was placed in the
basket behind her seat and cash was collected from the girl. The girl then rode
ahead a little more, parked her tricycle next to the footpath, took out the crutches
and hopped into the shopping center nearby. In no time she came back with a bag
hanging on her hand, placed it in the basket, got onto her bike, placed the crutches
back in their slot and rode away.
I was impressed with the confidence and the seeming ease with which she attended
to her chores. At no time there was any indication of her being handicapped and
different from others. There never was any indication of her being at the mercy of
someone even when she was being helped by others. She took things in her stride
and it looked as if she never felt that she was different from others. I was about to go
near her and say a word of appreciation but I held myself back. By doing that, I would
be pointing out that she was different. Within my heart I wished her well, expressed
my appreciation in front of my wife and we continued with our shopping.
Now, the pain in my toe seems trivial and inconsequential. It isn’t bothering me much !
