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She Was 12 When She Was Almost Buried Alive In The Gujarat Earthquakes But She Didn’t Give Up

byAbhishek Kulkarni
28th January 2017
5 minute read

Life is unfair. That’s the harsh reality of life that we never learn as kids. When we’re at a tender age, life is full of optimism, excitement and happiness. Pain, suffering and sadness are emotions almost non-existent. However, some of us end up facing the ‘wrath’ of life at this tender age.

Prutha Desai is one such girl. To her, life was a cruel beast. She faced a terrible trauma, endured mockery and ridicule but eventually emerged unshaken, bold and victorious. Here’s her story told by Humans of Amdavad:

life girl earthquake
Image Source
“Exactly sixteen years ago an incident happened which turned my life upside down. It was a national holiday, so schools were closed and I was sleeping in my room when the earthquake struck and shook the whole city. I thought it was a dream but suddenly my mom woke me up and told me to run as fast as I could. I could see everything shaking and moving in the house and people running here and there. We used to live on the second floor.. so my elder sister and my parents started running down stairs and I didn’t realize the seriousness of it so I was descending a bit slowly. While I managed to reach the parking area but there were a lot of cars so I couldn’t come out in the open area and the very next moment what I saw was that the entire block is coming down on me and then I can’t remember anything as a big concrete slab hit my head.
After a few hours, I came back to my senses and all I could see was darkness all around with a red light blinking, horns honking, broken cars and the smell of petrol leakage. I was hanging in mid-air where my right hand was stuck in the window of a car and the index finger of my right leg was stuck under the tire of the car and I couldn’t move my body. Meanwhile, I was very thirsty and saw water on the ground so I licked the ground just to quench my thirst. I wasn’t aware that my right hand was stuck in the window of the car, I just knew that one of my body parts is stuck in that window and I have to rescue myself from it so I took a piece of a broken glass and started cutting my hand just to get rid of that window but it was very painful and that was the time I realized that it’s actually my hand which is stuck. All my tries to remove the hand were in vain so I started shouting for help and by that time hundreds of people had gathered to save the trapped but it was impossible to save us as there was a mountain of debris above us.
Soon Rapid Action Force team with Fire Brigade and a team of other civil engineers had arrived to save me. As they started using JCB machines to remove the debris from above, more debris started falling over me so I asked them to stop that because all the slabs were falling around me. During this, I saw one horrifying scene which is still very fresh in my mind. There was a dead lady in front of me and as the rescue team was removing the debris through JCB machine a big slab fell on that lady and her body was cut into three pieces and all blood was over my head and I still can’t forget her face. Soon the rescue team dug a big tunnel to reach towards me, and at a first a Sardarji Uncle from military came inside to see my situation and then he brought the whole team with him and tried to put a jack in the car to remove my hand from that car but they were unsuccessful. They decided to amputate my right hand but again there was a problem as doctor said that he won’t be able to give anesthesia to me and would have to cut the hand without giving any local anesthesia. I said go ahead I will bear the pain but just take me out. And the next thing I saw was a team of doctors and rescue team tied a tight rope on my hand and amputated my hand with a big knife and I can’t even express the pain I went through. It was all messy and there was blood everywhere and after almost 36 hours of fight I was rescued but the next thing I knew was that I was in Operation Theater. After a day or so, I got back to my senses and I wanted to see my mom and dad, but my mom was also hospitalized and my dad didn’t want to face me due to my loss of hand. I tried getting up but couldn’t gather the strength to do it and that’s when it hit me hard that at the age of twelve I have lost my right hand. It was so depressing and I didn’t even eat and cried for days and decided not to meet anyone. Because at the age of 12 you think of things like, how will you tie your laces?, how will you write with your left hand?, how will you comb your hair? My school principal came and told me one beautiful sentence, she said that ‘You are God’s favorite child; you should feel blessed that he just took your hand and gifted you a new life.” These lines were a motivation booster for me and gathered courage to face the society and live a normal life.
Later I completed my schooling and did MBBS and currently I completed my MD in Psychiatry. Over the years there have been people who have been rude to me, there were colleagues who would talk with me in an insulting tone but again, there were professors and other classmates who have been very nice and supportive to me. And of course, not to forget the family and few good friends who always stood by me and helped me reach at such a great stage in life. From being stuck under the building for 36 hours to losing my right hand to becoming a doctor I have come a long way.
Any Message?
We humans have a tendency to underestimate ourselves. We are much more than two hands, two legs, two ears, one nose and one tongue. We are far more than our physical appearance, our mind can do wonders and can take you to great heights. Once you realize your strength and choose your weapons wisely to fight the battles, then believe me, nothing can stop you.”

 

I wouldn’t wish upon anyone the experience that Prutha has emerged from. Her story shall serve as an inspiration to many.

“You don’t lose when you fall. You only lose if you decide NOT to get back up.” 

I realise it’s a cliche, but hey, cliches become so for a reason, right?

Source: Humans of Amdavad

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