They lost limbs but not their spirit

Chennai: It was an accident that would have crushed the spirit of most people but Dheenu Prasath shrugs off the entire episode with a casual wave. "Life has been jolly good," he says. Cut to Gandhi Jayanthi in 2008 when Dheenu, then a Class 5 student, was merrily riding his bicycle whistling to himself.

A novice cyclist by his own admission, Dheenu encountered a rashly driven lorry in foggy conditions with low visibility and was trapped under its wheels.

"The pain was excruciating but the loving care of my parents and their never say die attitude revived me, and here I am, a happy go lucky boy," he said at the Tamil Nadu medical and dental counselling 2016 at Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital in Anna Salai as he awaited his turn for the differently-abled counselling. With 70% of his body paralysed, Dheenu is supported by a prosthetic right leg. Having followed his parents' instructions to a T, even becoming a doctor was for their sake, said the medico aspirant, who hails from Alaiyasebham near the Dharmapuri-Hosur highway.

"Most of the students whom I met here said that it was their childhood dream to become a doctor or had similar tales. As for myself, I just want to keep my folks happy," said Dheenu, whose father M Sivamoorthy and mother Muniratnamma are farmers.

His proud father chips in, saying, "He topped the rankings at the Government Higher Secondary School in Alaiyasebham scoring 1,042 marks in his Class 12 exams. His confidence springs from his own nonchalant demeanour and he also knows that his parents will be there for him no matter what." While this tale ended on a happy note, a determined K Nandini from Tindivanam had to return home empty-handed. In 2015, she was on her way to school with her father for special classes when a speeding bus hit the duo from behind.

""My father fell to his left. I wasn't so lucky. The bus ran over my legs," she said in a distraught tone. Nandini has a prosthetic limb after her right leg was amputated from the waist down.

Although Nandini claims that to be 70% handicapped, she was rejected by the medical officers in the counselling who apparently told her that her injuries at 80% made her unfit to pursue medicine. But, with her father, Kandaswamy, now planning to move court, she has not lost hope just yet.