As my parents left, I latched the door and went on my slightly swerving-to-the-left-and-right wheelchair to the drawing room and shifted to the sofa. On my way, I had heard a clunk, some metal-like small object fall on the floor. I checked my wobbly front wheel and alas! I discovered the screw of the front wheel had come loose, and so had the wheel!
Now, I was in a quandary. The main door was locked and I could not go to open it, due to the obvious. Thankfully, I had my mobile with me (an everyday practice), which never leaves my side when I’m alone at home.
I rung my sister, informing her about my predicament. Worried, she started giving me a number of solutions, but, none worked. In a hurry herself, we decided that the mighty hand of parents was needed here.
Waiting for them to return, I wondered on how we could possibly get the door opened— it being latched from the inside. What to do now? What? Of course, WhatsApp! And, Facebook. So, hyper-ventilating I reached the two platforms, WhatsApp’ing one friend, Facebook’ing another.
I recalled other occasions where I found myself in similar situations.  A particular night arose in my mind. It was raining heavily. I was alone at home. My sister’s daughter, 7 years old, was in my care. As rain poured, lightning broke across the skies, the electricity too went out. In the black of the night I was thankful for the emergency light right next to me.  Scared but courageous for my niece I went on the engage her with games even as inside I shook with fear.
However, it was not always so. When my two elder sisters were not married, there was never an occasion when I had to be alone. We went for family outings together. If my mother had to go for shopping or run errands one of my sisters would always be by my side.
But things changed with the marriage of my eldest sister two decades ago. Now, if my mom wanted to go for shopping with my other sister, it means that I have to be alone. This because shopping markets are still not equipped accessibility for wheelchairs. A plight I’m sure, shared by many.
Thinking of all the dark days, my mobile rang. As I answered, I heard the frantic voice of my mother questioning me as to why I wasn’t answering the doorbell. I told her the whole scenario. Now, it was my parents turn to discuss what to do. My father decided to ask the maintenance of the condominium to come. They would come, get a stair up to our balcony, check if some window was open, or else, break open a window and come in to open the door.
But I found all of this a long stressful process. I was getting impatient. I asked mother to tell the guard to force open the door. He did, short and simple.
After this, we have made a small change. Instead of latching the door, I lock it with a key from inside and my parents carry another key for themselves. Tuning and fine-tuning life…
As told by Archna Jain