Subhangee is a college student from Kolkata, India. Her story won second prize for college students (19 to 25 years) in the Heartfulness International Essay Competition 2021.

Subhangee Ghosh

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 id="h-subhangee-ghosh-is-a-college-student-from-kolkata-india-she-tells-the-inspiring-story-of-her-father-who-overcame-all-obstacles-of-childhood-blindness-to-help-others-this-story-won-subhangee-second-prize-for-college-students-19-to-25-years-in-the-heartfulness-international-essay-competition-2021">
 SUBHANGEE
 GHOSH
 is a college student from Kolkata, India. She tells the inspiring story of
 her father, who overcame all obstacles of childhood blindness to help
 others. This story won Subhangee second prize for college students (19 to 25
 years) in the Heartfulness International Essay Competition 2021.
</h4>

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 To some people he is their God, to some he is their hero. He effortlessly
 plays the role of brother, friend, husband, etc. And to me he is my
 larger-than-life father, whose capacity and willingness to help others never
 ceases to amaze me.



 At the age of 10, my father lost his eyesight in an accident. Overnight he
 became a burden to his family. Incidentally, my father has become successful
 and has come so far in life because of an act of kindness by one of his
 relatives. He likes to tell people that he considers his blindness to be a
 blessing in disguise because otherwise he would never have helped so many
 people. And he tells me that teaching is his passion and helping people his
 obsession.



 Throughout the years, my father has helped countless visually-impaired boys
 and girls in different capacities. By profession he is a teacher, and for the
 last ten years he has been the principal of a school for blind children. In
 his professional capacity he has mentored many a boy on career development,
 many of whom have become very successful in life, and guided parents on how to
 understand their child’s special needs. As a result, he has &nbsp;helped those
 children to have a safe and happy upbringing.



 My father is also the secretary of an NGO, which runs solely for the welfare
 of visually-impaired people, providing scholarships for education, and
 establishing a home where blind students can stay free of charge, etc. He is
 like a one-man army when it comes to helping others. He always says that,
 whenever he goes somewhere alone to do good work, someone or the other is
 always there to help him and make his journey smooth. He believes it is God’s
 way of looking out for him.



 In early 2020, my father became gravely ill. When he came home, he told people
 that maybe God saved him because he had some unfinished work. Those words were
 soon to come true. Soon after the pandemic started, my father got a call from
 a blind hawker saying that he was having difficulty in making ends meet
 because he had lost his source of income when the local trains stopped
 running. My father sent him some money. Soon after, a few more people called
 with the same issue, and he did likewise. When the news spread of my father’s
 help, he started getting 100 calls a day from people all having the same
 issue. This made him seriously think about how to resolve this issue. He
 started the program, “Relief Distribution to Blind Hawkers.”



 He approached his friends, friends of friends, other NGOs, corporates, etc.,
 and through his efforts he was able to procure 15,000,000 rupees in cash and
 food items for distribution. In 2020 and 2021 he provided relief to
 approximately 2,000 blind hawkers and their families in 14 districts of West
 Bengal. But my father does not believe in doing things on a small scale. He
 not only gave these hawkers relief but procured for them items to start their
 business again. Also, he organized a free-of-charge vaccination drive for
 blind people who were not able to get vaccinated by themselves.



 And the most praiseworthy fact is that my father has co-morbidity, and he was
 not at all deterred to volunteer in the field. Along with one of his
 colleagues, he went out every Sunday with a minivan carrying the relief
 materials, and directly handed over the items to people.



 Helen Keller was an amazing lady who is one of my father’s inspirations. She
 said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even
 touched, but just felt in the heart.” My father may not be able to see it, but
 I believe he feels the respect that people have in their heart for him, the
 pride his family feels in their heart for him, and the love and admiration I
 have in my heart for him.


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<h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 “The best and most
 beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor
 even touched, but just felt in the heart.“ Helen Keller
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