The Big Picture

“...Are you ready?..we are already running late”!. “Just give me 2 minutes mom,” said Neeva to her mom while putting her age-old watch in her right hand. “ Mom! can you help me in this, please?

It was very normal for her to put the wristwatch onto Neeva’s right hand. But that day memories flashed like high tides in an ocean which normally remains calm and composed. Suddenly tear came running out of nowhere and placed itself on the wrist of Neeva. “Oh, Mom! No please...what is this?...Now? Seriously? 

Her mother was lost in her thoughts when Neeva said those words. Memories were inevitably flashing in front of her eyes. The day when Neeva was 6 months old, the day when she was rushed to hospital in an emergency. That day when she came to know that her daughter’s life will be a struggle from now. That day when she was told her daughter is a special child, a child with cerebral palsy, a child with hemiparesis. It was something nobody in their family had expected. With eyes full of questions, despair, hopelessness, and doom, she gave a look to her husband as if she was saying now what?

 On one side she was watching her daughter who was struggling with her seizures and on the other sides all her dreams, the happiness associated with her pregnancy and thereafter were brutally murdered. That day everything was as still as it is now. Each day of her struggle was as live and present as she is in this moment. All those stolen moments of happiness, the support of her family members and friends that somehow keep her going.

From no stone left unturned to the best of the neurologists, to the best of physiotherapists to the Best of Gods! Everything! She did everything! A vacuum was created in her heart but she never wanted to realize that. The only thing that runs all day and night through her mind was to do best for her daughter as she believed there is a Big Picture. She broke down sometimes, distracted many times. Doesn’t really she know what keeps her going. In a parallel Universe she was excelling in her job, was learning from experiences. But she was waiting, waiting deadly to see that big picture.  

That tear, rolling out of her eye was the vacuum that has filled her heart for so many years. She chooses not to cry. That tear was the outcome of the struggle and sacrifices she has made all through her life only to see this day. Yes, the day of the Big picture! That picture is not more a picture, it has turned herself into a day. The Big Day. Afterall, Neeva has been appointed as a member of the Executive Board of DAR (Disability and Rehabilitation), an initiative of the World Health Organization. Today, it was her first meeting. The first day of Big Picture.