MYOPIA

Rao offers a memoir about caring for his daughter, who was born blind.

The author writes that his own infant child, Yogita, was the first sightless person that he’d ever met. Soon after she was born in 1989 in Mysore, India,doctors noticed her lack of response to light and other visual stimuli. After a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the author and his wife, Mamatha, learned that it would be anatomically impossible for Yogita to have any vision. While processing the life changes that came with being parents to a child with a disability, he found that family members seemed ashamed of their joyful young girl; others expressed needless, unwelcome sympathy, he says. Rao writes of how he and his wife found it difficult to address their situation through a spiritual lens, and he even entertained the thought that Yogita’s blindness was “divine retribution.” But soon, he decided to change how he looked at his life and “made a conscious decision to face life’s challenges head-on, committed to navigating this path with Mamatha by my side.” Readers follow Rao and his spouse throughout their journey, as their love for Yogita guides them to treasure their daughter as the wonderful child she is. At the beginning of the memoir, some readers may find the book unrelatable, as the author describes his wealth and comfort, dressing himself in luxury clothing and wearing fine cologne. However, the book soon reveals greater complexities in a quick and consistently engaging read that effectively captures and holds the reader’s attention. Readers will find some passages disturbing, including a section in which the author reported one of Yogita’s doctors to the authorities for suspected sexual assault. However, the overall content is emotionally revealing and shows the author to be unafraid to highlight his own strengths and flaws.

An earnest and openhearted remembrance.