This young architect from Mumbai has a different perspective on it. 

I’m enough, more than enough – and my fate will do just fine resting in my left hand.

In a post from Humans of Bombay, she narrated the horrific incident that claimed her left hand and how she overcame the struggles that followed. 

In 2010, after a wedding in Kolkata, I boarded a train back to Bombay, where I was studying architecture. I got in and quickly tucked myself into the upper berth and shut my eyes for a while. But I was jarred awake by a sudden derailment and fell down from the berth. Our bogie had gone completely off track! 

The next few hours changed her life forever. She woke up in the debris and realized that her left hand had been cut off. 

I couldn’t feel the pain….I was just numb. I couldn’t fathom what had happened. My 15 year old brother was running around for help. The locals weren’t helping us because of their own inhibitions against the Naxals.

Ultimately, she found help from an Army officer but things were critical and she was almost declared dead. She survived but there were many surgeries.

Months later, she recovered and went back to college. This time, everything had changed.

But I was lost. What was an architect supposed to do without her hand? People told me to do something else. But this was my dream! I was brought back from this horrible accident for a reason, and now I had to give it my best. 

But the worst times have been known to bring out the best in us, if only we are willing to bounce back.

I wasn’t going to give up. I started writing with my left hand and learned how to draw with my foot by myself – that’s how I did my final thesis as well. It was tough but it proved how much I wanted it.

With a movie made on her life and professional success coming her way, she says:

I travel for workshops and I do everything, people thought I couldn’t even dare to think of. I don’t see the limitation that others see in me.

She is an example of things people can accomplish if they put their hearts into it. You can read the entire post here: