I was around 4 years old when I had a friend,Siddharth. We used to play like any other kids and had lots of fun. I always felt he is smaller than me and used to treat him like a baby. As we grew together, I still felt he is small until one day I realised we were of the same age.I knew something was different with him but what I never tried to find out. He could not express himself in words was one different thing. I never gave it a deeper thought.
But as I grew up I came to know that Siddharth suffered from Fragile X syndrome the most common cause for inherited mental impairment like autism and retardation the world over. Now I knew why I thought he was different. However we get along so well that i forget about this.
Today I had gone to see his gathering and his piano performance and it was really nice. Amongst all his school mates he was the best.I saw parents of children suffering from this syndrome and how they were trying to make their “babies” dance to the tunes though very few of them were successful in making them do what they had to do on the stage.Autism is a condition wherein one needs “extreme care”. It can be like someone who can turn the shop upside down if rejected to give sweets in the shop,or someone who can sing very nicely and then scream for whole day,someone who can work for 24 hours without loosing concentration,someone who cant concentrate on a thing even for 2 seconds.They live in their world.Autism sufferings are shown in the movie “Black” by Rani and also in Taare Jameen Par. I have spent lots of time with such children right from my childhood to school days, I really understand what they go through.Their parents are real warriors fighting just to make their children say a hi or look at something and concentrate.
Todays performances were touching. I felt god made all of them different all of them special. It was an indeed beautiful experience.
Cosmos 