On Women’s Day, members
of Samraat Club Panaji felicitated poet, author and artist, Frederika Menezes. Afterwards,
someone voiced our collective sentiment, ‘It was such a great honour to meet a
dynamic person like Frederika! I feel like I have received a huge gift… a gift
of inspiration to happily face all odds’.
Indeed, Frederika is an inspiring
personality. Though confined by constraints, she created many literary works - ‘The Portrait’ (poems), ‘The Pepperns and Wars of the Mind’ (fantasy
novel) and ‘Stories in Rhyme’ (verse
for children) and ‘Unforgotten’ (a
love story for young adults). She is also an artist creating her paintings
digitally.
Her poem, ‘The Different Normals’, features in the Class XI English textbook.
She received Yuva
Srujan Puraskar Award in Literature in 2016. Her first book received
praise from President, Dr. Abdul Kalam. She recited her poem in the Goa
Legislative Assembly. She is one of the Election Icons for Goa. All her achievements
seem epic when one sees her attitude to rise above the constraints of being
differently abled.
The term ‘Differently abled’ emphasizes
the fact that many people with disabilities are quite capable of accomplishing
a particular task or performing a particular function, only in a manner that is
different from or takes more time than that of people without the disability. Eventually,
ability is an offshoot of positive attitude.
So often, so many of us lament our limitations. We blame constraints
for inabilities. Many years back, Monday Muse featured the inspirational story
of Naseema Hurzuk who said the biggest challenge was to overcome the belief
handicap. Inspirational icons like Frederika show us that we can overcome any
hurdle if we pursue our ability, even if differently abled!
No, none in our
world can be called disabled
Yes, there are the
inspiring differently-abled!
~ Pravin K Sabnis
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