I looked different

"I look different. To make my life easier, and to have me accepted everywhere, they coined a term for me, "differently abled". My parents, reacted to that label every time someone attached it to me, in a way you react when a fly sits on your face. They told me, if I had any limitations to my ability, it'll be me, who will decide that. A right, I must not offer anyone on a platter. Yet, it took me some time to understand it.

As a kid, I noticed noise more than embracing silence. I think it's only natural to not notice silence until you notice its absence terribly for the first time. Happens. People looked at me with sympathy in their eyes when I didn't need it. However, to be honest, I knew it before it happened. My parents had prepared me already. They told me that I will get it as a freebie and I must not take it.

But then, there came a time, when somewhere inside my mind, I'd look back at people with sympathy. Because I was the one with purpose in life. And I was crushing it. Any obstacle, any dream, I was virtually on steroids to beat it, to achieve it, to conquer it. I was out there, turning stones into milestones. I had a purpose in life. And they, out there, hardly had any, I read. They looked at me, and I turned to them and said inside my head, "joke is on you!". As a teen, it was my little idiosyncrasy. What's in my head, doesn't show on my face, because I look different, you see. But there was someone who could see it. Of course, my parents!

Just when I thought, I got it all figured, they always showed up. As much as it was important not to have anyone, not even myself, looking down upon myself, it was also important not to look down on anyone else. Simple. Maybe not. As a teen, I struggled to get it for a long time. What do they know how life is for a "differently abled" teen, I asked my parents. And there. They just made their point without even saying anything.

I didn't know when I had started using that "different" term for describing myself inside my head! What they always meant was that I allowed myself just to be. They didn't want anyone else, to define it for me before I did. They aren't around anymore. And some times, it scares me. I know, it shouldn't. They believed in me even when I didn't know what the word "believe" meant. But then, you see, even your Spider-Man got scared by the end of The Endgame. Didn't he?"

"So... You did watch the Endgame! "

"So... Is that what you took away from the whole conversation?"

"I had absolutely no idea, that this how our conversation will end up. But really, if I did, I would've recorded it. Would you mind if I post it along with our photo?"

"Why do you need a photo? because I look different? or because you are on Instagram? Or because our conversation isn't good enough?"

"..."

"Messing with you. Come on!"

"So I can take a photo...."

"No. :)"

"..."

"I am not photogenic. You see. And how many of your photos you have on social media? They tell me, it's a psychological disorder."

"Okay. You got me there. I have my own issues which I haven't figured out yet, about posting my own photos. So let's not go there."

"Hmm... so you have your own idiosyncrasies, you got to deal with. Huh?"

"Don't mess with me. Get lost now."

"It was great talking to you."

"I know. Everyone says that."

"Get lost"

"It was great listening to the journey of a clueless kid, becoming an arrogant teen, and turning into ... quite a humble adult... Or should I say, witty person?"

"It's your story, boy. Do you always need so much spoon feeding"

............


.... And that's exactly why working from cafes can be injurious to the stereotypes.