For a12-year-old summer vacations are an annual ritual. We visit our grandparent'shome, meet our cousins and play house games. Paulami Patel in 2001 went on tospend his summer ritual of vacations at her paternal uncle’s home in Hyderabad.One fine evening the 12-year-old Paulami and her cousin decided to play fishingon the second.
Thegirls created the whole setup for a fake fishing game. They tied a utensil tothe rod as bait and hung it outside from the second floor. The fake baitslipped off her hand and got entangled with a wire. Paulami thought that it wascloth hanging wire so she caught hold of the bait. But, it was a live wire! Itwas an 11,000-volt wire. The current got more intensified as her body touched asteel chair for few seconds.
Paulamiwas screaming in pain and soon blacked out. It was only when the power went offthat her body was thrown back. She was severely bleeding, her clothes were allburned, and immediately she was rushed to the hospital. Seeing theirsixth-grade daughter in such a condition Paulami’s parents were in shock andwere in denial.
Inconversation with The Better India Paulami remembers the incident, “the doctorsthought that it was a miracle I survived as in most of the cases the patientdies on the spot. The current had traveled my right hand and left foot. Whilemy right hand was severely damaged my left foot had no skin, muscles, ortissues left. I lay naked for a week in the burns ward. When the gangrene in myright hand begun to spread the doctors was flown for a second opinion” and thenmy right hand was amputated.”
Paulamiwas shifted to Mumbai after that and then stayed at hospital beds for almost 8months. For a 12-year-old it is the worst nightmare to go through. To live alife so helpless without meeting your friends and spending the childhood daysrequires real motivation.
Thebrave parents of this extraordinary girl were so supportive all this while.They even told all their relatives who used to visit her that they should crackjokes when they meet her and in reverse Paulami will tell a joke. That’s howthis little girl managed 8 months on a bed in Mumbai’s Breach candy hospital.
She losta whole academic year in her school but her principal and teachers turned outto be so helpful. They provided her with written notes so that she can cope upwith the loss. Slowly and gradually she practiced writing with his fake righthand. Paulami struggled a lot while setting up with the fake hand as it is abit heavy and her right hand had already lost too much muscle.
Afterall these years of struggle Paulami now drives writes, and also skydives. Itwould have been easy for her to just let go and shut down from everything.However, her parents did not allow her to lose, they always kept motivatingher. This girl tried her best to take one step ahead each day. And now, she isa happy mother of a beautiful daughter.
Despiteall the struggle this girl never gave up and took the rope of her life into herown hands. She refused to stay on others' shoulders forever. She wanted to beindependent and stay motivated for all those who have had such life-alteringaccidents in life.