Dialogue in the Dark, Jaya One

Over the past week, stress has been accumulating. So much that I just wanted to wrap up in my blanket and stay in bed for 36 hours.

Yes, like this. 

Without knowing of my current state, Alyssa decided to bring me as her plus one to Dialogue in the Dark, an opportunity given to her by Nuffnang. Based on the amount of stress that I have been accumulating inside of me, I thought that I would give it a try and maybe learn something.

So she brought me to Dialogue in the Dark. Honestly, when I first saw her messages, I thought it was a huge typo and she actually meant Dining in the Dark. Because come on, Dining in the Dark is much more well-known that its counterpart. However, as similar as it is, there were major differences. The similarities included the fact that the entire exhibition was carried out in the dark (seriously, you can't see anything at all) and the fact that they provide food. Yes, I had my dinner in total darkness in which I actually thought that the table we were sitting at were one of those long Hogwarts table but it was merely a huge, square table.

Firstly, Dining in the Dark is an exhibition, meant to raise awareness and tolerance for those who are disadvantaged in terms of sight. It creates job opportunities for the blind and opportunities for sight-able people like us to experience what it is like going through life as one of them. We move into the exhibition as a group of 10.

Throughout this exhibition, we were led through a dark maze-like thing by blind guides that allows us to experience the world without our sense of sight. My group's blind guide was Jeff, a totally awesome foodie who is an all round amazing individual. Going through the exhibition, all we had was our several other senses to help us navigate through life. When it first begun, I was terrified. I was worried that I might get lost in the darkness and never get out. However, as we started our journey as a group, I realized that it was not as terrifying as I thought it would be due to the people all around me. I experienced the beach, the rainforest and the city in complete darkness. Awesome, really until people start grabbing you in places and you realized that you grabbed people in places. Not pleasant.

The second part of the exhibition was dining, in the dark (not the place, but actually eating in the dark). We had Thai food and had an awesome time figuring out how to feed ourselves. One thing was for sure, I made a huge mess, i stuff food into my cheeks and food was all over my face. Thank god they had tissues.

The best part about this part of the exhibition was that when someone went astray, Jeff KNEW. Because we did not meet him outside, we did not know of that fact that he was blind. During the exhibition, I started questioning if he was actually wearing some sort of infrared goggles that enables him to see in the dark. I was so wrong. It was when the lights came back on that I was totally blown away. He was able to carry out food to us, place it in front of us and lead us around the room like it was no issue while we were all flustered. Awesome, totally awesome.

When we told him that we thought that he could see, he simply told us this,

"I believe that when God took away my sight, he gave me something else in return."

From left to right: Me, Jeff, Alyssa

As a group, we went through the entire exhibition together and bonded over it. Who would have known that in darkness, we would let our guards down this easily. We seek for help and reached out to others in the same condition as easily. The darkness "united" us, several strangers who hardly knew one another. This experience taught me that in the darkness, what prevents us from being afraid was knowing that others are there for us anytime we required help. If I had went into the exhibition alone, the experience will be completely different, similar to one of a haunted house. With this connection we had, we loudly announced that we should introduce ourselves once we can see once again. Of course, when we got out, our bond disappeared almost instantly. We no longer have that one thing in common, we saw how each of us were different (appearances or not) and we just went separate ways.

I was so heartbroken after the exhibition I cannot even...*sigh*

Even so, the lessons were learnt and I understood how it felt to be blind. It was definitely a great experience, to be able to have the opportunities to go through something like this. Totally REVOLUTIONARY.

While typing this entire post, of course, a song was playing in my head. This time, it was...
Mary Poppins orchestral piano medley from Saving Mr. Banks

Michelle