28/03/2025
The Universal Language:
My brother Roy is hearing impaired. He went to a special School for the Deaf, in the days when it was still acceptable to use that term. My sister and I communicate with him in sign language to this day. And he was a charmer! He was friendly with everyone. Pretty soon, most of the young crowd of Ashoknagar, Madras learnt the language too!
Many years ago, when he and I were in our twenties, one of his classmates, a South Indian girl, got married to a Haryanvi boy. One evening, the happy couple dropped in at home with a bunch of their friends.
The room was full of 20-somethings who were excitedly communicating in sign language. Except for the groom's sister and I. Neither of us had a speech handicap but she didn't know English and I couldn't speak Hindi back then. So we were somewhat awkward with each other, hardly making eye contact
But in a little while, the awkwardness fell away, because both of us very naturally slipped into the universally accepted sign language. And a merry old time was had by all. Even our 'goodbye's and 'see you soon's were expressed in the same way.
That evening, for all practical purposes, the young lady and I were deaf too. And Language was no longer a barrier
