“We both were on top of the world when we found out that we were going to have our first child! We named him Shourya — he was the cutest baby boy. But soon, I realized something was wrong. He used to cry and couldn’t feed himself well — leaving us exhausted and helpless. While everyone told me that I was being unnecessarily anxious — I knew that something wasn’t right. I kept gathering patience hoping this phase would soon pass.

My husband was amazing through this time –anytime I was frustrated, he’d tell me to take it out on him however I wanted… even when our baby was finally diagnosed with microcephaly — which meant that he’d have a delayed growth, I couldn’t believe it. For a long time I experienced guilt, anger, irritation, and above all, I questioned ‘why did this happen to me?’
I blamed everyone — myself, my pregnancy, my doctors. I blamed the potholes on the road or maybe my stressful life which could’ve led to this. During this time, my husband pushed me to accept it– he was so positive and kept trying to rebuild my faith. I had to let go.

It was hard at first — people would actually come up to me to ask, ‘what’s wrong with him?’ Once, my taxi driver got frustrated when he was crying and told me ‘isko chup karao!’ People even gave me advice on what I should feed him for his neurological condition!

But when we went for his physiotherapy, we got a new perspective. We saw parents bringing their kids in one by one. We saw that they came from very far. Some came in their old age, some kids were in worse conditions. Why were we complaining so much?

We accepted that Shourya is ‘special.’ A lot of people tend to believe that the word ‘special’ means abnormal — but it only means that Shourya needs special ‘VIP’ treatment! He’s the most content child I know. He’s always smiling! Even if he’s unwell, or if we’re doing something mundane, we will always find him happy, making others laugh. His ability to love everyone unconditionally inspires us. And I’d go through all the stress and worry all over again, only for that smile!

Those people who used to stare at him — or sometimes even outright asked me ‘what happened to him’ or gave me unsolicited advice — I chose to ignore them. I’m proud to say that my son is special — he’s different, why shouldn’t he be? Those are the people who stand out and are recognised by the world. It’s just how it is. He’s 6 now! We’re waiting for his first words — my husband thinks it’ll be ‘papa’ while I know it’ll be ‘mama!’”

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