All these lines on my face are getting clearer.

If you know me well enough, you know I do not cry while I am watching a movie. I don't even cry at funerals or weddings, why would you expect to see me cry watching a movie?

Most of you who know me well enough would also know that even if I do cry, it's always about a movie that revolves around a family or real-life suffering because I am a very family-oriented person, hence all those random postings about my love for my mother and all that jazz.

Today, I had the privilege of watching this movie called Taare Zameen Par (Stars on Earth) and it made me bawl throughout the entire movie. If you think that's funny, my dad was also in tears watching the movie and he never cries watching a movie.

And he NEVER watches Hindi movies.

This whole movie just captures EVERYTHING I feel about children with special needs and the family and society's negative perception towards them. It sums up how I felt during the times I was doing my voluntary placement assignments. Seeing Aamir Khan's character's dedication towards his that one particular boy who has dyslexia moved me to tears.

The boy's father is your usual "Second best is not good enough" character, constantly wanting his children to be the best and refuses to believe that his son has a learning disability. "Pure laziness", he claims. "What good can a disabled child be? He can't just paint all his life, there's no use in it", he adds.

But no. Aamir's character as an art teacher who loves children and hates to see them being mistreated by society, he believed in the young boy and taught him to read and write. He knew what it felt like for the young boy; he experienced it to. He empathised with him.

It's not just a movie, don't you dare say those words to me. It is REAL. This is what is happening all over the world. The public here think less of these children. I know, because the people I know are inconsiderate and call them the worst names you could possibly imagine. For eight months, I was able to work with the students and teacher at these special schools and walk in their shoes. I was able to witness what they were capable of doing. They could do things that even I, as a so-called normal member of society, cannot.

Until today, I still maintain that these children are the most honest people to ever walk the Earth. I would give an arm to see what they see. They take solace and joy in the little things that most of you would never find amusing. You think they are complicated.

But guess what?

YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE COMPLICATED.

We are all worried about how we do in life, how we look in that dress, what make-up goes with that new handbag, and will we marry a rich Datuk's son. Society makes us that way. If we don't conform to their desired norms, we are shunned and called names, or worse still, ostracised.

Have you ever stopped to think that there are more important things to think about? Or there are people who do not give a damn about those things you worry about?

If there were more dedicated teachers like Aamir's character, I'm sure these children will no longer be misunderstood by society. There is a need for patient, understanding, empathic, and dedicated teachers like him in the world. Not teachers who incessantly call their students 'stupid' or 'idiot' and throw chalks at them.

There, I am done with my rants. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to find the DVD of Taare Zameen Par so that I can watch it over and over again and have a really good cry.