<p>Why do we do what we do? Why do we toil in the sun, work day and night, and stretch our limits?</p>
<p>When asked, Dhanesh Shah always said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s all for a better life. For ourselves and our near and dear ones&rsquo;.</p>
<p>A blacksmith with an enviable reputation, he quit and gave in to his deteriorating eyesight five years ago. His earning was around Rs. 1500/- per month back then.</p>
<p>He provided for his family and catered to their needs as much as he could. If anybody needed anything, he would spring into action and try his best to satiate it.</p>
<p>With age, he developed cataracts in his eyes and almost lost his vision. The last three years had been the toughest.</p>
<p>He was jobless and confined to the four walls of his humble hut. He remains at his wit&rsquo;s end as he has problems doing the odd jobs of daily life. He also had trouble in recognising people and going out in the sunshine.</p>
<p>In short, he was unable to do a single thing, without feeling uncomfortable. And the cause of all his problems was his disappearing eyesight.</p>
<p>His life was at the mercy of his youngest son, also a blacksmith by profession. Shah stayed with him and took his help to relieve financial requirements.</p>
<p>He relied on his wife for helping him bathe, clean himself, walk around the house and more. And he was dependent on his daughter-in-law for food.</p>
<p>Dhanesh Shah told us, taking advantage of his condition, her daughter-in-law humiliated him day and night. She disrespected him and taught the children to taunt him. She even told him off saying he was a &lsquo;burden&rsquo;.</p>
<p>He was made to feel as if he purposely did no work and spent his son&rsquo;s money.</p>
<p>So good life turned into a distant dream for Dhanesh Shah. His life went through a metamorphosis of sorts.</p>
<h2><em>It brought him to a juncture that he didn&rsquo;t know how to cross.</em></h2>
<p>&nbsp;At 60, he was at the crossroads. He desperately hoped things didn&rsquo;t get more serious.</p>
<p>He often wished things didn't have to be this way. Trying to reconcile with his fate, he fought hard to save himself from depression.</p>
<p>But as they say,&nbsp;<em><strong>&ldquo;Every cloud has a silver lining&rdquo;</strong></em>.</p>
<p>Our outreach team&rsquo;s announcement proved just that.&nbsp;<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="../../"><strong>Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital</strong></a>, being a&nbsp;<a href="../../about-us"><strong>non-profit, charitable organisation in Bihar</strong></a>, reaches out to the remotest villages to identify the needy patients for&nbsp;<a href="../../why-blindness"><strong>eye care interventions</strong></a>.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>He attended our free eye camp in Siwan. After the eye screening, he requested us to do the needful.</p>
<p>He agreed to go through a surgery in the left eye. He came with us all the way to Mastichak for the cataract operation.</p>
<p><strong>Now the dark clouds that passed overhead and blocked the sun have disappeared.</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://sundewlabs.com/akhandjyoti/dev/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Post op 2.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667" /></p>
<p>Dhanesh Shah is working hard to live the good life he wanted to.</p>
<p>He feels it is better to be hopeful than to feel hopeless. He feels difficult times will lead to better days if we don&rsquo;t give up hope.</p>
<p>But he also has a word of caution. He says, &ldquo;After losing my sight I realised that no one is yours if you aren&rsquo;t able to work or provide money. Beware because even your own family can ill-treat you because of that&rdquo;.</p>