As I walked into the huge Council Room, she sat there on her wheel chair wearing a white coloured churidaar and the most infectious smile I had ever seen. I do not want to give her real name so let me call her, “Pragati”.
I was there to conduct workshop for full 2 days on Leadership Transition – Making Managers into Future Leaders. All the attendees were Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors, a very high profile group. Most of them were doctorates and possessed multiple highly recognized educational qualifications.
But, I am not writing in here to share with you about how much appreciation and adulation I received and what a successful workshop it was. Rather, I have not been able to get Pragati out of my thoughts even days after that workshop got over and I need to share her story with you.
Pragati is a Deputy Director with the organization. She works from home. She had insisted on coming to office so that she could attend this training for those two days. Her zest for learning amazed me even before I started talking to her. She is paralysed from neck down and her coming to office was not an easy task. From her home in the 3rd floor of a building, somebody would charge Rs. 800 to take her down in their arms as a wheel chair could not be taken down the narrow stairway. She would be lifted up at the venue in the wheel chair. Again, the same process to be repeated once the session got over for the day.
At the age of 14, one evening when Pragati returned home from school and the karate classes, she got temperature. At night, when she wanted to go the washroom, she could walk till the washroom and come back. And then, once she was back on bed, her legs gave away. She was struck by paralysis for a lifetime. She got hospitalized the next day. All her systems began failing. Her family was told that she was struck by GBS, a rare disease that strikes one in a million. All body systems stop working in this disease. She was put on the ventilator.
How life changes! Pragati had gone to school the previous day, gone for karate classes, and here she was, on the ventilator, her father being told to stay around for some time so that he could collect her Death Certificate.
However, some people are born warriors! She remained on the ventilator for a long 9 months. During this period, whenever they tried removing the ventilator, she would breathe for around 17 seconds and then throw up blue blood, needing to be put back on the ventilator support rightaway.
Pragati returned home after 9 months! Alive and breathing! Only that! Because rest nothing much was in her control. After a few days, her mother suggested to her to resume her studies. Her father sat to help her only to discover that she did not remember either alphabets or numbers. Her father, her mother, her brother and she herself, started from scratch. Re-learning everything from the beginning. Her father would make her count the number of advertisements that came on television, to help her learn counting. A tedious ordeal for a normal human being but not for this family that rose to fight the battle every time. She relearned everything. She had lost two academic years in the process and was determined to not lose any more time.
Her brother would take her to college in a wheel chair. Intentionally, make her travel in the wheel chair to the college from some distance so that she would learn to deal with the inquisitive eyes.
Around a few years back, when she was to appear for an examination, Pragati again had a cerebral attack. She lost control of her neck. It would droop on her shoulder all the while. Pragati had to be tied to the wheel chair with a dupatta else she would slide down and not be able to tell the answers to the writer.
Pragati came out in flying colours in all her exams and wears multiple hats on this day. She went on to learn and earn multiple accolades. Multiple qualifications. A gold medal in M.B.A. with specialization in Finance. She has a doctorate and a demanding job. Pragati has also authored books on Finance.
I also had the luck of meeting her mom. A beautiful Bengali women in her 60s wearing a crisp cotton saree, with a huge red Bindi on her forehead and her hair done up in a tight nice bun. An epitome of patience. Pragati said she has never seen her mom shed a tear through the entire struggle of almost a quarter of a century. She was smiling, taking care of her daughter. Her mom told me that it was Pragati’s self confidence and a willingness to fight that gave her strength. I could not help but feel in awe of these two simple, inspiring women sitting across me.
Pragati kept asking me questions about what can she do to improve her communication/ leadership abilities and was an active participant through the workshop. I hope I ended up helping her learn something about those skills because I picked up valuable life lessons from her. I do not think I will ever be able to forget her for the rest of my life. What an epitome of strength! A truly incredible warrior! A woman with an unfathomable zest for life! Her never give up attitude moved me beyond words! A hunger to learn! A desire to grow! No disease, no physical disability can stop a woman whose mind helps her rise like the proverbial Sphinx every time a calamity strikes! No mountains too difficult for her to climb! No roads too hard to travel! A life being lead in a manner that shows that life truly is a celebration of being alive!
