My toe and the girl without legs.

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 !