THE CHALLENGE
-5. Trip To An Ashram

Raghu felt very depressed to see that he had stammered in front of so many students.  To make matters worse for him, a small boy giggled when he stammered which infuriated Raghu.  He glared at his guru and walked out of his house trembling in fury.  He returned to his shop and sat on the floor covering his face with his hands for a long time.  He, then, opened his shop still looking very dejected.  Some of his regular customers observed that he was very angry and even asked him the matter.  However, Raghu declined to speak anything. 

Later, during the day Raghu had a surprise visitor in the form of his guru Balachandra!  Although Raghu was very angry with him, he welcomed his teacher and made him sit beside him.  Thereafter, for a few moments there was silence around.  Raghu looked elsewhere with furious eyes while Balachandra observed him calmly.  Then, Balachandra said softly, “Raghu, why did you come out from the singing class like that?” 

Raghu looked at Balachandra in anger and spoke with great difficulty, “G…Guruji!  Y…You have i…insulted me today!  I had t…told you that I feel very b…bad when I stammer in front of o..others and therefore I t..try to s..stay away from c..communicating with people!  Still you made me s..speak in f..front of a c..crowd!  Saw what h…happened?  I could not speak a w..word properly and that b..boy!  He was laughing!  H…How dare h..he!”  Raghu clinched his fists and continued, “L..Let me tell you something e..else, g..guruji.  I w..was not very keen in running t..this shop after f..father’s death for I knew that i..in this b..business, I will have to c..communicate with my customers, which I did not want.  However, m..my f..father had made much e..effort to m..make this shop and wanted me to c..continue this business a..after him.  T..Therefore I did not have the heart to close it.  I a..also felt that closing this shop w..would not make my father’s soul rest in p..peace.  I am running this s..shop out of compulsion more than p..passion. Since I had to run this shop, I d..decided that I will devise w..ways and means to c..communicate as much less as possible with my customers so that I d..do not expose m..my stammering problem b..before them.  Y…You saw that paper w..where I have listed all the sweets of m..my shop with their c..corresponding p..prices?  Why have I d..done t..that?  Because I do not w..want people to ask me for the p..payment they need to make after purchasing sweets f..from my shop.  I k..know that I will s..stammer w..while t..telling them about the price which I d..do not want.  I am s..so conscious about t..this d…drawback of m..mine.  Y..You have d…deliberately t..tried to hurt me t..today!” 

Balachandra who was patiently hearing all that Raghu was saying spoke up in a composed manner, “That boy has been duly reprimanded by me for laughing when you stammered.  Tell me something, Raghu.  You only intend to feel bad when you stammer and not do anything to rectify it?  How long are you going to stay away from people in an attempt to hide this problem from them?”  He came close to Raghu and put his hand on his pupil’s shoulder.  “Raghu, what will I gain by deliberately hurting you?  You are my student and I always wish and pray to God for your well being and prosperity.  I am confident that this problem of yours is only due to your lack of self-confidence while speaking.  I sincerely felt that making you mix up with my other students will gradually rid you of the fear of stammering and make you more confident while speaking.  I agree that anyone will feel bad if someone laughs at our defect.  However, such instances should make our resolution more firm in getting rid of our drawbacks.” 

Raghu looked at his guru with his face still annoyed.  He folded his hands and implored, “G..Gurji, I am destined to s..stammer.  I know that I will never be able to overcome this d..defect of mine.  P..Please do not compel me to do things that I d..do not l..like.” 

Balachandra smiled at his student, “Alright, Raghu!  As you wish!  From tomorrow you can come at your usual time for your classes.  But please do me a favour.  Today evening I want you to come with me to a place which you will know when we get there.  I know that you have to keep your shop open in the evening but spare some time for me.  I will come here and take you along with me.”  Raghu agreed and Balachandra took his leave.

In the evening, Balachandra took Raghu to an ashram that was conceived and funded by him for the benefit of the handicapped.  Here, the unfortunate ones were looked after and attempts were made to motivate and help them lead a normal life despite their disabilities.  Balachandra used to visit his ashram quite frequently for monitoring if everything was being managed well and was in excellent rapport with the disabled people.

At the time when Balachandra and Raghu reached their destination, all the people were out on the big ground, which was beside the ashram for their evening stroll.  The person who was in charge of the ashram saw Balachandra and hurriedly came to welcome him.

“How are you, Madav?  Everything’s fine in the ashram?”  Balachandra asked him.  “Yes, sire!  I am fine and everything is going smoothly here.”  Madav responded smiling.

Balachandra introduced Raghu as his pupil to Madav.   Thereby, both of them were led inside the ashram and then Madav informed the others who were in the ground that Balachandra had come to see them.  Immediately, everyone rushed to meet him and crowded around him.  Raghu was deeply anguished to see that while some of them were blind, others could not speak and there were others who did not have hands or legs.