Mothers are blessed with immense courage to make broken look beautiful and vulnerable look invincible.
And, in those tough moments when no one believes in you, moms turn their courage into a pair of wings to let you touch the new skies.
And, one such mother is Rupali Nayak.
When Rupali was blessed with a baby, hardly she knew her baby was born with a neurological condition of cerebral palsy.
But Rupali made sure her daughter, Mamta, didn’t compromise on any of her dreams just as she lost the genetic lottery.
Whenever society created a hurdle between Mamta and her dreams, Rupali stood with her iron will to make sure her little baby doesn’t live a life of limitations.
The little girl started her physiotherapy sessions when she was only 14 days old. And, when she was only two-and-half years old, she would look at other children with school bags with only one dream to go to school.
Hardly, they know the journey to get admitted to school would make them so tough that no other adversity will bog them down.
When Rupali approached a regular school to get her daughter admitted, they refused to take her child because of her medical condition of cerebral palsy.
While speaking with Express Parenting, Rupali shared:
“Around four to five schools were not even willing to meet Mamta. I told them she was cognitively good and toilet-trained. The fact is if you do not have good cognitively skills, it becomes difficult to pursue studies in a regular school. But the schools either told me that the seats were full or that they would put her in a lower class.”
But Rupali did not give up and finally when she went to Rajhans Vidyalaya and the principal agreed to take her.
And, what makes Rupali’s journey more inspiring is that fact that she almost raised Mamta single-handedly:
“My parents have always supported me. Mamta’s father has always been abroad. So, I have brought her up single-handedly with the support of other family members, of course. You definitely require a support system or it becomes difficult to manage everything.”
While society may have discriminated Mamta, Rupali shares her classmates have never been.
“She has grown up with other children, who have been very sensitive. They also realised that she is a part of them. Some other child may look at her and see her as different, but her classmates grew up with her. So that way, they also became aware. I never felt that she was being discriminated against in any way.”
And, we couldn’t stop wondering why as kids we are more forgiving and empathetic than being adults.
As a mother, Rupali did everything that she could – from waiting outside her classroom to taking lessons from her school teachers and then helping her with studies.
And now, her daughter Mamta has made the mother proud by scoring 90.4% in her CBSE class X examination.
Mamta owes her willpower and determination to her mother, who has supported her unconditionally throughout the journey.
And, we feel her message for other parents who have special needs children is a must read:
“All I would say is, never give up. It will never be an easy journey and a lot of challenges will come your way and you may feel like giving up. Many times, you may be in tears but you have to support your child regardless. Because if you do not fight for your child, who will?
As parents, we need to push ourselves; be patient and determined and instill the same values in your child as well. My daughter now is at an age where she feels frustrated sometimes for not being able to do things on her own. Parents have to accept the reality but never stop trying. And that’s where your child will draw strength from.
Today, Mamta tries to do things on her own. At the same time, get all the support you can. Without that support, Mamta would never have reached at this position in her life.”
At I FOR HER, we feel Rupali’s journey as a mother is just the right example of what our mothers are capable to do. And, what could have been a better way to celebrate Mother’s Day!
