Arunima Sinha, a woman who had made us proud of her achievements had to face an utterly shameful moment at the Ujjain Mahakal temple recently. She was not allowed entry into the temple as she was not wearing a saree. She had worn a track pant instead and the security personnel stopped her not once but twice when she visited the sanctum of the temple. The temple authorities despite being informed about arrival did not allow her to enter the shrine, as she was not properly dressed.
Arunima Sinha, a former volleyball player had to amputate her leg after a bad robbery incident. But without letting that deter her from anything she resolved to climb all the highest peaks in the world and hoist our national flag up there. She completed her commitment and climbed the highest peak Mt. Everest with a prosthetic leg in 2013. She became the first Indian amputee to scale such a height and we all could not be more proud. She in fact serves as an inspiration to many.
But what is really shocking is the kind of treatment she had to deal with at a religious place. Only women wearing sarees and men in dhotis are allowed inside the Lord Shiva shrine during the time of bhasma aarti every morning. Well, this might be in accordance with the local traditions but given the case of an amputee, it is okay to twitch them a little or rather accommodate them. In fact, Anurima also says a man wearing jeans was allowed inside but she wasn’t. “I am very sorry to tell you that I felt greater pain in visiting Mahakal temple (at Ujjain) than scaling the Everest. My disability was mocked at there (at Mahakal),” she tweeted.
It is indeed saddening to know what Arunima had to go through. But not just Arunima, it points out at a larger picture of disabled people in the country. Yes, Arunima has her achievements to her name but what about those who just want to pay their respects to their devotee? It is a thing to question if a person’s dress is questionable over their faith? In case of shorts or exposing attires, is a thing to question. Instead of making a mockery out of a person’s disability we should indeed give them an encouragement to do better. For someone like Arunima, who herself carries a big crown of achievement on her head, facing a situation like this is a thing too shameful for us as a larger society.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2018 01:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).