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My Ahalya is a school topper who dreams of becoming a doctor one day. She is an angel in our life who promised to bring us out of our poverty. But the train accident turned our lives upside-down. She was supposed to go to school and study instead she is lying in the hospital bed with unbearable pain, fighting for her life – Senthil Kumar, Father
16-year-old Ahalya was on her way to support her dream of becoming a doctor when the fatal accident happened. She wanted to prepare for the NEET exam and was looking for places that provide free coaching classes. The one in her village charged Rs 80,000 which her weaver father couldn’t afford. But she didn’t lose hope. The next Sunday, she and her friends planned to take a train to Coimbatore, a nearby city, to find a coaching centre that will teach them for free of cost.
She skips breakfast most of the days. She goes to school on an empty stomach and there were instances where she fainted in the class due to low blood pressure. That day too she was leaving home without having food. Ahalya said that she’s running late and she would miss the train if she stayed a minute longer. Only if she had eaten that day my girl wouldn’t have suffered this much pain” - Gokilambal, mother
Light-headed due to an empty stomach she slipped from the moving train and fell down
Ahalya started feeling dizzy at the station when the train arrived. Her friends got in and when she was about to step up, the train started to move. Panicking, her friends tried to pull her in but they only got hold of her hair. She slipped and her left hand got trapped under the train. The young girl’s hand was fully mangled. She suffered from excessive blood loss. There were severe injuries to her nerves and bones. Thankfully, the people nearby rushed her to the hospital immediately.
"My daughter said she would call me once she reaches Coimbatore. I was expecting it but instead, one of her friends called saying Ahalya met with a train accident. I couldn’t believe my own ears. My wife couldn't even come to the hospital with me. I went alone. There she was…screaming in pain, the skin and flesh hanging from her hand! I cannot imagine how much pain my little girl would have gone through" - father
It’s been a week now after the accident and Ahalya has undergone two surgeries to repair her severely damaged hand. It is completely mangled. The doctors had to do a vein graft were pieces of a vein from her leg is taken and attached to her hand. She needs one more surgery for reconstructing nerves. Ahalya is in excruciating pain and she cannot move her hand. With the operation done in her legs, she cannot sit or even turn sides on the bed. But in spite of these sufferings what scares her most is not being able to become a doctor if she loses a hand. The whole surgery and treatment costs around 6 lakhs but so far her father could manage only to pay only 1 lakh.
I weave sarees for a living. The business is so dull that I make only Rs 3000 – 5000 per month. With that money I have to feed my family, send my three daughters to school and at the end of the month, I have nothing to save. There are days when all five of us go to bed empty stomach. My child needs one more surgery. I don’t know whom I should beg for this much money. It’s the people in nearby beds who buy food for our daughter. I don’t even have money for it now. All I do is pray for a miracle every day."
