Snippets - I Hear You Neil

By Sneha Iype

There’s an accordion that plays a beautiful melody in my head,

every time I see Neil.

It pops up. Intense. Loud.

I have no idea where it resides inside of me, but it’s there. That melody.

Neil knows how to extract it.

I don’t think Neil knows he has that power.

He doesn’t know at all.

He is the quietest boy in class.

Not a word was spoken between us, until the day I heard him.

No one knew what Neil thought or said, even when he spoke.

The teacher would keep prodding him saying “speak up Neil”.

She would bend down to him and listen carefully to his words.

Her eyes lit up and she smiled and then like an amplifier she would share his thoughts out loud in class.

Much to my amazement he was always concise and had great insights.

Neil had words in him that no one could hear.

Over time the teachers loved him because he wrote, loudly.

They heard his words on paper.

The class never really engaged with him.

He didn’t engage with the class.

Everyone thought he was ordinary and boring.

He thought nothing.

Until one day Neil was auditioning for our annual day.

That’s when he finally spoke up.

He spoke loudly, clearly, and beautifully.

There was not one person who didn't hear Neil that day.

He spoke. He spoke through his accordion.

He said things we never imagined he could say.

He was passionate, feverish and full of life.

He swayed and played and laughed like an effervescent child…

It felt as if, each one of us silently cried that day.

I certainly did.

And then I heard him every day.

Loud and clear.

Using his accordion to speak, unabashed.

By Sneha Iype