On the evening of 22 April 2006, Kolkata’s Arpita Roy met with an accident. She fell off her bike and a lorry ran over both her legs.
Though she was fully conscious, Arpita couldn’t identify the exact spot of the unbearable pain until someone pointed to her blood-soaked legs.
The doctors recommended surgery to save her legs, but due to the family’s financial situation, it was delayed by 12 days.
“My legs could have been saved, if we had enough money. I quickly swallowed the bitter pill and accepted my reality,” Arpita recalls.
A devastating incident such as this would have broken anyone’s spirit but the 20-year-old found a goal to become financially independent.
“My brother, who was the sole breadwinner, had already spent a lot for my limbs and medication. In between all this, people looked at me as if I was a burden,” says Arpita.
It has been 15 years since the tragedy and today Arpita can not only stand and walk with her artificial limbs but also do yoga like a pro.
She started her fitness regime to ensure she always had the right weight to fit into the artificial limbs. In 2015, she started doing yoga, which requires flexibility, healthy knees and more importantly legs.
“It was no less than conquering a mountain. The artificial limbs made asanas difficult as one needs a lot of control over their knees,” she says.
So, she started with simple exercises and gradually moved toward the complicated ones. By 2019, she knew every asana and trained to be an instructor.
Making a debut on social media without cropping her image or hiding her limbs under a long skirt was another liberating decision she made to get rid of her fears.
Arpita has come a long way since her accident. Her life’s motto of counting blessings rather than fretting over losing her legs is what has brought her thus far.