Story of a man who paid heavy price for his childish dare, but never lost hope

A life hard to imagine and circumstances in which a lot of us would have given up. This story is about the man called Raja Mahendra Pratap, who paid a heavy price for his childish dare.

When Pratap was five, his friend threw him a challenge that he could not hold an iron rod into an open electric wire. He drew courage and held onto high voltage iron rod, which resulted in amputation of legs and hands. Since that day, till the age of 16 pratap did not attend school was confined to the four walls of his home.

Belonging to a middle-class family, his father felt embarrassed at having such a child, considering him good for nothing. Yet, her three elder sisters stood by him and encouraged him a lot. Since, he could not walk, he would crawl on the floor which rubbed off his skin at the joints. Eventually he learned to walk. Finding solutions, he similarly learned to lift things with his mouth and ankle.

The willingness to grow and learn in life, did wonders for this young boy, who completed his 10th and 12th without attending school, and additionally completed his graduation and post-graduation in B.Com and MBA from Osmania University.

He further received a scholarship from Delhi-based ‘National Centre for promotion of employment for disabled people’. The scholarship amounted to Rs. 1000 for a year, enabling him to complete his course in finance.

Today, he is proudly associated with ONGC, Ahmedabad and works as a Finance and Accounts officer. He has full support of his colleagues and superiors at the work place, and enjoys his responsibility. He stays at the quarters allotted to him by the organization and does all the work by himself- whether it’s washing clothes, making snacks, or any other household work.

We don’t often see people like Pratap, who having lost a lot in their life still continue to work hard, and be an inspiration to millions.