Been one of the saddest, most deeply upsetting weeks in years.
One of our friends - NV - who we met just once earlier this year, was supposed to be featured on our page.
Both Liz and Aditi were speaking to him throughout Feb, sending him emails and stuff. Helping him figure out what to send, how to send it, etc. Plus he'd been in and out of hospital.
Wednesday afternoon Aditi last spoke to him. Thursday just before midnight we get a message on one of our groups saying he's passed on.
Shocked out of her skull Aditi opens her whatsapp to show me his messages, and that's when we see his last status update. It said in plain Hindi, 'from now on, we'll only ever meet in your thoughts. yours, NV.'
Fucking broke my heart. NV was a good guy. He told me about his condition. Then I read about it, and him, and found out he had had a hard life. His mom died at a young age, and he had to pretty much take care of himself and his brother, which he did for some years selling vegetables in his village. Later he worked as an electrician, but couldn't keep at it because of constant hospitalisation.
Guy was in too much pain just being alive.
All his life he had been going in and out of hospital, requiring continuous treatment. He'd sent us a picture of an ulcer on his leg. It looked horribly painful.
Life is brutal for some disabled folx. And it makes me wonder if storytelling is even of any consequence at all?
Would NV's destiny have turned out any different had his story gone global?
Would NV's destiny have turned out any different had his story gone global?
Maybe he'd have received the help he needed. But would that mean everyone going through similar things would've got the support they need?
How many NVs exist in India currently for whom every day is full of pain? How many of those stories can we possibly tell? How many of those stories told get the help, the attention they deserve? How much of that change really ever happens?
A fraction of a fraction of a fraction.
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