Ved throws away his cane because the noise of the cane was quite distracting, and it made him self-conscious as well. There
were times when he wished he had the cane, but he did not really regret his action as the cane would only have drawn attention to his
handicap. In spite of being warned by his instructor that, being blind, he needed the cane; Ved thought that he would be better off relying upon his own judgement. In fact, he does more than that - he breaks the cane into two. To him the cane represented his handicap; and his state of dependence upon others.
Ved is allowed to leave his blind school for a field trip to town. But one condition was imposed upon the students: they were specifically told not to ask for help even if it was voluntarily offered. His instructor is pleased with his performance, but feels that Ved must come to terms with his
blindness, and admit that there are certain things that he just cannot do.
In this article, Ved tells us about facial vision - the ability of blind people to sense the presence of solid objects. That is, to sense the air pressure exerted by these objects upon the skin pores next to their ears...
Facial vision is the sixth sense often attributed to blind people; though - as Ved points out - even sighted persons could develop this ability if they really tried to!
A Donkey in a World of Horses gives us a glimpse into another world - a world inhabited by blind people. This is a world that most of us know very little about, except for Braille . Ved tells us that there is nothing really romantic about this world; it is just a world where four senses work instead of five. In other words, the persons inhabiting this world have to continuously labor under an in-born handicap. Nothing comes easily to the blind... To overcome one's natural handicap, and to succeed in this world, one must be prepared to struggle all the time. This is the central message of this narrative.