Photography by Ronald L. Harmon

Bhadrachalam, India, 2004

            The dim light filled the room with a pale-blue glow. A dark-haired man in a white shirt played individual notes on a keyboard of an instrument that used air to make sound. Children of all ages sat in a semi-circle around him and as he played, their voices reached for the note in unison and then he would give some direction and strike the next note.

            The neighbor who had invited me to visit the school introduced me to the man who played the instrument. The musician stopped, stood up and came towards me. After talking with him for a few minutes, I learned that he was blind and each of his students was blind as well. He was a teacher in this school for handicapped children. He himself had lived here most of his life. Not only were there blind students, but other children in the school were deaf, and some were handicapped in such a way that confined them to special devices for mobility.

            After visiting the whole of the school, and then entering this small room to watch the teacher work with the blind children with such love and care, I was overwhelmed. Many of the little children with their blue-black shiny hair, deep brown eyes, and brilliant white teeth were radiantly beautiful. Somehow, a deep sadness welled up inside me, and as the musician held my hand and spoke to me, he said. “Don’t be sad -- they are happy.”

ISO 125, F1.8, 1/6 Sec, Available light from window