Incredible Grit

There have been stories from ordinary human lives that make them only more extraordinary and unbelievable. But that is how the human grit to face adversities and overcome them with flying colours serves us all with unbelievable inspiration. A living inspiration of indomitable grit and sheer resolve to make it big in life, 20-year-old Mamta Patel of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh, whose father is a marginal farmer in the backward district, was born with just one hand but which too was underdeveloped. So she had no hand to write with. But the other day she wrote her BA first-year exam with her left foot at the prestigious Maharaja College of her district! Despite her huge disability, even as she was not allowed any extra time to finish her paper, the only privilege she got was that she was allowed to sit on a platform where she could use her foot to write. And she did it with unmitigated valour. Last year, under similar circumstances, she had cleared her Class 12 examination. No wonder, she is already a celebrity of sorts, attracting the right media attention she deserves. She says she wants to become a government servant and lead an independent life without being a burden on anyone else. So what do such incredible stories of grit and resolve inform us with? It is the fact that where there is a will, there is always a way; and more gritty is the will or tenacity of purpose, grander is the way – to success and to serve as a role model to emulate. Such disabled persons like Mamta, and given such poverty as hers, should be given adequate help by the state. They deserve extra privileges not only during their student years but also when they apply for jobs, be it in the government or in the private sector. Girls like Mamta do not look for sympathy because they are warriors in the real sense. But they definitely deserve something extra, including financial assistance, to enable them to make it far bigger in life than what ‘normal’ people cannot even imagine of. How many can write their college exams with a foot?