A dancer from South India, Sudha Chandran, was
only sixteen years old when she broke her right leg
in an accident on May 2, 1981. She was immediately
taken to a local hospital. Without taking the
necessary preliminary precautions, such as cleaning
her wound and administering anti-tetanus
injections, the doctors put her leg in plaster from
thigh to toe. As the pain increased, her parents
shifted her to a hospital in Madras. When the
plaster was stripped off, it transpired that her leg
had begun to blacken—a clear indication that
infection had reached the bone and gangrene had
set in. The doctors did all that they could, but her
leg could not be saved. On June 6, 1981, it was
amputated three inches below the knee.
Sudha’s unbounded love for dancing had not
abated. “I want to dance,” she used to cry in
anguish. “Will I ever dance again?”
She was fitted with a modern artificial leg, known
as the “Jaipur foot”. The inventor of this foot, Dr
P.K. Sethi, happened to meet Sudha’s teacher, who
told the doctor of his pupil’s ardent and undying
passion for dancing. The doctor replied: “Sudha
will be able to dance like anyone with normal limbs.
Only she shall have to be tough enough to put in
the extra effort and bear initial pain.”
When Sudha learnt of this, she immediately readied
herself for the initial pain. She resumed her pursuit
in earnest, and by putting in extra effort, she once
again perfected her performance.
Her first postaccident appearance was in Bombay on April 1,
1984. Dance critics, who had seen her perform
before the amputation, said that she was dancing
better now than before, and that it was difficult to
tell which leg was artificial.
One may be beset by the most grievous handicaps
in life, but it is always possible to rise above them,
as Sudha Chandran did. However, one must be
willing to endure some “initial pain”; and put in
some “extra effort” to achieve one’s goal.
Ref - The Moral Vision
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
