18 years back when my husband passed away due to a heart attack, I thought my life was on the verge of ending. I got a ton of advice from loved ones. My kids tried to be strong and support me, they made me see how beautifully my husband and I had raised them. Giving up on them would mean disappointing my husband more, had he been alive.
I started to live a normal widow’s life but never missed out on being a mother, sister, friend and grandmother.
You can choose
to create sadness within yourself or choose to cherish any moment with a
positive head. This outlook of mine was challenged with an accident that took
place in my life.
On August 19,
2013, I was on a train to Jamshedpur, to see my grandson. Of course, I was excited,
being old i had a helper with me. The train stopped at a station and after an
hour I looked for my helper but he wasn't there around so I got down from the
train to get water and I heard the train horn. People started to rush and I didn’t
check which side my train was standing. I followed the crowd and the train
started to move.
Due to the rush,
I couldn't board the train and tried to catch the moving train. I don't
remember what happened after that as I regained my consciousness only in the hospital.
What people told
me is that I couldn't get in the train and I had fallen through the gap between
the train and the platform and after the train crossed the platform, my left
leg was lying drenched in blood and I was unconscious on the side of the track.
Today, I am able
to describe this experience today without being in pain although this was the most
unexpected accident of my life. I am a person who is always so calculative,
planned and organized and I lost a body part in a horrific accident due to
series of haphazard steps. I have no one
to blame it upon or crib for. It definitely took me a year to get over the
thought of being crippled but now that I am able to walk, I do my daily chores
and laugh upon jokes, play with my grandson, smile with my granddaughters and
still make decisions for my family. All of these make me believe that having a crippled
body is not a curse but a crippled mind is. I sleep at night with a beautiful thought
to see the next morning and thankful to live another day of my life.
-
Mrs Manorama
Mishra, Age: 78,
Graduate (English),
Lalit Narayan University
