Just a couple of months back, the Indian community celebrated the festival of lights, Diwali, very grandly. Sparks of a zillion colours, more so those of red, green, blue, and yellow, lit the sky. This festival is believed to bring light, knowledge and wealth into one's life. All the more, this puja all along with sweets, idolworshipping in huge pandals and crackers, is probably the only festival which the whole family celebrates hand-in-hand.

In the same world, but, live a section of humans, who can only utter the names of these colours. To them, the hue of a colour is same for all shades. Day or night, any play with optics, the winner is only a gloom. They are often called the Blind, the visually challenged or the differentlyabled.

Mission 5, a student initiative of GCC on a visit to a school for the visually challenged learnt about the school, played with the children apart from donating 2,000 Braille papers, and some old clothes. Walking towards their hostel, my friend uttered

in an inquisitive tone, "Do these festivals and celebrations make any difference to their lives?" I had absolutely no answer. I reined in my thoughts and tried to imagine how life in this world would be like if my eyes were to be shut indefinitely.

It did not take long to get an answer. It was all before us. The children were laughing and playing with the visitors. Moving around, we saw them clean their rooms, wash clothes, and the most surprising of all, cook food for themselves with a little help from the visually abled. What we saw there was a miracle, occurring silently, demonstrating the lessons of perseverance and self-reliance to those standing and watching them.

It did not take long to get an answer. It was all before us. The children were laughing and playing with the visitors. Moving around, we saw them clean their rooms, wash clothes, and the most surprising of all, cook food for themselves with a little help from the visually abled. What we saw there was a miracle, occurring silently, demonstrating the lessons of perseverance and self-reliance to those standing and watching them.

While the group sat and sang with the children, I engaged the Principal of the school, Mr. Rakum in a conversation. According to him, there are millions of children born disabled in the world. While many schools and organizations claim to be active in supporting them and empathising with them, only a fraction of the total has been able to benefit and live a respectful life.

Seeing them sing, I was reminded of a musician who was visually impaired but had attained the highest level of learning in music. I had also read that the visually challenged are a bundle of talent and creativity and thus make good artists, musicians, and teachers.