Taare Zameen Par

No, this post is not a movie review. I have been hearing loads about the movie 'Taare Zameen Par' but I don't have the courage to watch it. The movie is supposed to be about a 'slow' kid who does well due to the love and efforts of an understanding teacher despite having an unsympathetic family.

I personally know a ten year old kid who faces a similar challenge and i also know that no sympathetic teacher has come to his help. The fact that this child is a close relation makes me guilty. I frequently ask myself if I can be that understanding person in this child's life. Do I have it in me to put a lot of things important to me at stake for helping this kid out? It is a huge commitment and with my already existing responsibilities ( work and a 8 month old baby), will I be able to cope up with this? Will we be able to sustain under the strain this would put on our time and finances?

I came to know this kid by marriage and my initial response for a lot of years was anger. I was angry with the way his parents dealt or rather not dealt with his situation. I was angry because no one did anything about it citing various unacceptable reasons. Can any reason be acceptable or big enough for anyone to not try to make their child's life better? Don't the parents fear for the child's future?

But soon enough I saw the futility of my anger. I realized the mother was not capable of thinking about anything and the father was too busy wallowing about how unjust life has been to him to notice anybody else.

I hurt every time I see P with the kid. I know his heart bleeds for the kid. And we all feel helpless. I always wonder if we. . P and I could do anything for the kid. The only solution would be to take him in our house for sometime.. maybe a long time. The question we again ask ourselves is if we are ready for such a responsibility? Would this mean less time and care for our own baby? But does not doing anything about the situation make us weak people, part criminals in ruining this kid's life?