Disabled persons are differently-abled persons. We shouldn’t look at them as disabled. They are capable of achieving anything they wish for. The disability pushes them to work hard and they want to prove to themselves and the world that they could also achieve heights. If the disability would stop them then we would not get an Indian film and television actress and an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer named Sudha Chandran.
Sudha Chandran began learning dance when she was three and a half years old. She would go to school then go for her dance training and be back home by 9:30 pm. This was how her early life was. In class 10th exams, she stood first scoring 80%, but instead of choosing science for further education, she chose arts so that she could continue dancing. This was her only aim. She just wanted to dance come may what. By this time, she has already performed at thousands of events and stage shows. Her life had just begun as a professional dancer when life took an ugly turn.
Sudha Chandran was travelling from Trichy by bus, when she met with a major accident that left her with a fracture and some cuts. She was probably the least injured there. However, because of the heavy influx of patients, she was attended by a couple of interns who forgot to attend to the cut on her right ankle and went ahead to wrap it up. That resulted in her foot getting gangrene and because of the fear of it spreading throughout her body, her parents had to take the difficult decision of amputating her right foot. She was shattered because it was only then that she realized how passionate she was about dancing.
She began to learn how to walk again and it took her four months to even walk straight. Once she got the Jaipur leg, it took her three years of physiotherapy to recover and feel normal again. She remembers people would come at her home and say things like, ‘it’s so sad your dreams can’t come true’ or ‘we wish you could dance again’ when she decided to re-learn what she had known best through her entire life to dance.
It was a slow and painful process but with every step, she knew that this is what she wanted and dreamt to do. One day, she went to her father and told him that now she was ready to perform again. He was surely shocked. She had to perform at St. Xaviers College on the following Sunday when the morning headline read- “ Loses a Foot, Walks a Mile.” That show’s tickets were completely sold out. She was very nervous before she went up on the stage when her Grandmother told her, “Don’t worry, God is with you….let the miracle happen.” Sudha Chandran was angry and she replied by saying that the accident would never happen if God was with her.
The show ended, she performed her dance with ease and received a standing ovation from the whole audience. When she came back to her house, her father came up to her and touched her feet saying that “I’m touching the feet of the Goddess Sarasvati because you have done the impossible” and that has been the moment that touched her the most. It was after that moment that she received so much respect from the media, got an offer to act in a film based on my life, and received all of the opportunities that she had today. What her grandmother said was true- God was with her. Even if she didn’t see it then, he was with her all along. She thinks that the accident was “A Blessing in Disguise.”
Disability doesn’t stop you from achieving your dreams. Sudha Chandran fought for her dream to come true. And it did. Anyone who wishes to do something, their will will drive them through the right path. Believe in your dreams and yourself. Nothing is impossible. Even this word says “ I’m-Possible.”
