Akram Youth Fear | June 2016 | Akram Youth | Page 9

“That is not true for all cases.” Her mother
replied.
“But I am afraid to look at them, I fear that
they will do me harm at any moment.”
“Nirali, why do you have such fears? On the
contrary, we should sympathize with them
and their family members, because of the
fact that they are trapped in helplessness for
life.
Nirali did not answer her mother and with a
gloomy face, she left for her tuitions. All the
way she was gripped in a certain fear.
Two hours later, Nirali came home. She
quickly went to the bathroom and started
washing her feet. Sensing that something
unusual was happening, Surekhaben
followed her to the bathroom.
“Oh! What is this? What happened to you?”
“Nothing really, I fell off the cycle.”
“How did you fall? I hope you are not too
badly hurt.”
“No, I just have a few bruises on my knees.”
Surekhaben gently cleaned her wounds and
applied medicine to it. Then she went to the
kitchen and warmed some milk and went to
Nirali's room to give it to her. “Why are you
lost in your own thoughts Nirali? What's
troubling you so much?”
Nirali was waiting for this question, so she
burst out, “Mummy, I told you before, that a
crazy person is often sitting on the road that
I have to take on my way to my tuition!”
“Yes, I have also seen him several times
sitting on the side of the road.”
“Yes mom, but today when I was coming
home, he was standing in the middle of the
road and shouting away!”
Suddenly realizing what Nirali was going to
say, Surekhaben questioned, “What
happened???”
“I was very frightened and without looking

around, I rode my bicycle too fast, lost
control and crashed in to a wall!”
“Oh Dear, but why were you afraid?”
“I don't know mummy, as to why, but I
feel angry, and also afraid, when I see
such crazy people.”
“Did he do anything to you?”
“No.”
“Then, aren't you unnecessarily afraid?”
“Do you remember mummy, there was a
mentally sick man, who used to stay in
grandma's building?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Grandma used to tell me that he used to
beat his family members and when he got
angry, he would throw whatever he could
lay his hands on, at them.”
“But dear, why do you think that all
mentally sick people are the same? Now,
try to remove this fear from your mind.”
“Even at that time, I used to get angry as
to why he was allowed to stay at home
with his family." Nirali continued.
Surekhaben interrupted, “If you are
afraid to walk or bicycle along your
regular path, how will you ever manage
to get around?”
Although Nirali was listening to what
Surekhaben was saying, her fear had
taken a grip so deep inside of her, that she
was unable to find a way out of it.
Whenever she went for her tuitions, she
would look around to ascertain whether
that person was on the road.
Even after her mother had left her room,
she kept thinking as to why she was afraid
to even look at him.

Let us see what Dadashri says
regarding this matter…
Akram Youth | 09