I see it feelingly

Sunday 19th June 2016

I was invited to dine with my newly wedded friend and his wife from India. Our friendship had started when we shared an office in the company I worked for in Kuwait. Few hours had passed and I was thinking of leaving when the doorbell rang. I overheard their neighbor’s persisting invitation to attend his daughter’s twenty first birthday party and insisting to bring along the guest when he knew about me.

I tried to leave but eventually I found myself standing in my friend’s neighbor dining room around a small dining table with a birthday cake when they were starting to sing happy birthday. After blowing the candles and the usual hugs and kisses, I was introduced to the family members and to the charming twenty first years old Maia.

We were eating the cake when Maia came out from the kitchen holding a big tray with tea cups. Her mother sprang up, took the tray and went around giving everyone a cup.

I didn’t stay long and I was still on the stairs shaking hands with my friend when he said: “Did you notice anything unusual about Maia?” I did notice few unexplained moves but I didn’t or perhaps was embarrassed to look for explanations. “Yes I did”, I replied, “I think there is something abnormal with her hand, she did not meet my hand when I wanted to shake hands with her”.

My friend looked me in the eye and said: “Maia is blind. She was born blind.”

I was shocked. I could not sleep that night going over and over again through all the evening events, I remembered that I looked her in the eyes number of times and she looked so normal. Then I could not prevent myself from thinking of how a person can go through life without seeing. I decided to know Maia better.

My friendship with Maia (correct spelling is Mahiya) lasted slightly more than couple of years until her parents left back to their home in India. The very first time we went out together it was to the cinema on her request and to my surprise. This was in the eighties when cinema was still one of the main enjoyments. Maia liked cinemas very much. She used to say that the cinema is the only public place where she does not feel people probing eyes. We watched all kinds of movies but Indian movies were the most enjoyable. I would be describing what I was seeing and she would be translating what she was hearing.

It will certainly need more than this post to write what I can remember about those years. I’m not even sure how to write about things like feeling colors and hearing body language and facial expressions. But I owe it to Maia’s friendship for totally changing my perceptions towards those with special needs and especially towards blind people.

My only regret is not having a single photo from those years. I cannot understand now why I had always felt overly sensitive to use the camera when Maia was around.

The title (I see it feelingly) is from William Shakespeare’s King Lear.