Story of my life: Character Sketch of Helen Keller

HELEN KELLER: A RESILIENT AND ADMIRABLE PERSON

'Life is a mass of possibilities, all we need to do is to explore and identify our place in this world.'

Helen Keller perfectly epitomises that statement. For her, life was a journey that was to be cherished, and she always wanted to make the most of each moment.

Helen was known to be a precocious child before she was diagnosed with acute congestion of stomach and brain at the tender age of nineteen months. She had learnt to mutter a few syllables. But, the dreadful disease left her completely deaf and blind. It took her a few years to understand that she was different from the others.

However, the entry of her teacher Miss Anne Sullivan, into her life completely altered her approach towards life. She describes her life before her arrival as 'a ship caught up in dense fog'. Her arrival lighted up the path ahead for her, and a world of opportunities opened up in front of her.

What marked Helen out was her innate quality of wanting to learn more about life. She did not get disheartened with missed opportunities or failures. For instance, when she learnt how to read, she wasn't content with that, and wanted to learn how to speak, so that she could communicate with others. She successfully achieved her goal, and was able to speak confidently with her family members after being trained under Miss Sarah Fuller.

Moreover, she was also a voracious reader, and read many books from 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' till the 'Holy Bible'. She loved learning languages, and as she grew, she also gained an interest in subjects like History and Geography. This is indeed inspiring because she did so inspite of being deprived of her visual and auditory faculties.

Helen was blessed to have many wonderful people around her, who made her feel more confident. But, it would be safe to say that it was her grit and determination to move out of her comfort zones, that established her as one of the most inspiring individuals the world has, or will ever, see.

Comments

Tribute to Shri Narayan Rajamani: selflessness personified

There are occasions in life that compel us to pause and reflect on the very meaning of existing as sentient beings in this world. Death is a phenomenon that unsettles even the most spiritually-inclined person. When someone with whom there exists a deep, layered bond suddenly departs for the heavenly abode, it invariably leaves one disoriented. The passing away of my maternal grandfather Shri Narayan Rajamani on the 13th of January 2023 placed me in such a situation. Ever since I was informed about his demise, I have been saturated with thoughts- ranging from the numerous interactions I had with him to the lessons that I constantly derived from his art of living. I desperately have been wanting to write a tribute for my grandpa, but even before I started, I realised that grandpa’s life cannot easily be captured in an article or two. According to Smt. Vijaya Pushkarna, former Deputy Chief of Bureau for The Week magazine and closely associated with Shri Rajamani, my grandfather's lif...

What do our modern schools teach- discipline or slavery

If you ask any school for its objectives and aims, one can ensure that discipline will be one of the key objectives of any school. 'Discipline'. This is word which has received several connotations over the past few generations. You have various forms of discipline like 'self-discipline', 'sports discipline', 'behavioural discipline', and of course academic discipline. We don't need to go too far to understand this. Here is the Oxford Dictionary meaning of discipline- The training of people to obey rules or a code of behaviour. This definition summarises what is being currently taught in modern schools, moreso in India. Children are being treated like slaves. "Walk in a line", "Cut your hair", "Walk with your hands at the back", are few common phrases associated with discipline in schools. I being a child myself find it irritating at times. Sometimes, I feel like a slave obeying a master's comm...

Tagore- the free thought absolutist

"The anarchy of mere emptiness never tempts me." - Rabindranath Tagore Behind such illuminating words of wisdom were countless years of absolute immersion in exploring the self and the world. How do we define terms like 'devotion', 'immersion' or even 'committed'? These epithets may only fall short to capture the aura and stature of Rabindranath Tagore. This essay doesn't envisage being another of those glorious life-histories of this great man, rather it is an attempt to sincerely decode the message Tagore left behind for all of us. This attempt might seem laughable given the sheer magnitude of his literary output, not to speak of my unfamiliarity with the Bengali language, in which he authored a number of brilliant books. However, even a cursory reading of a few speeches that he delivered can offer a window into his thought-process. This investigation I believe is of utmost importance, and I also request readers to personally pore over Tagore...

THE DREAMS FULFILLED

Search This Blog