For people with disabilities, each day brings moments of hard-won independence alongside unexpected obstacles that can derail the simplest plans. Here is a first-hand account of one such experience shared by Prosenjit Chakraborty, a friend of Shishu Sarothi. Please read on and share your thoughts and reflections.
“Breaking Down and Breaking Through”
Sharing my story of overcoming my disabilities when I came back home after my motorised tricycle broke down and came to a grinding halt at the Pandu Bazaar premises where I regularly go for shopping. On 12th July’25, as I was overcoming a violent jerk from a newly laid concrete drain cover and pothole, the electrical connection of my motorised tricycle snapped, and it came to a grinding halt in the middle of the road.
As I can't stand or walk due to severe MS (Multiple Sclerosis), which has stolen the use of my legs and left me with limited function in my hands. I can grip, push, but my lower limbs' motor skills are a distant memory. My life is a series of carefully planned manoeuvres, from getting out of bed to navigating through the roads on my motorised tricycle. Unplanned events are my kryptonite.
I called my Maa to discuss a way out but nothing worked out instantly. I repeated the mantra " I CAN DO IT"... that, I’d repeat countless times in the whole day, in the dark hours of the night, and more in moments of despair.
I took a deep breath, & tried to break down the problem into steps, just like a piece of code as I used to frame in my days of being a software programmer
Step one: My plan was to get into a E-Rickshaw now and get home along with my motorised tricycle. For this I called up a standing E rickshaw driver and told him what ever charges you take, I'm willing to pay. I just want to go back to my home
Step two: Now the biggest challenge was to get myself out of my motorised tricycle where was I sitting. This was the Rubicon. The driver positioned his E rickshaw as close to my motorised tricycle as possible.
This is where the shift happened. The thought process that usually ran on a loop - I am disabled. This isn't easy. People are staring. What if I fall? was forcibly silenced. It was replaced by a single, sharp, crystalline thought: I need to get into the E rickshaw and get home!
At that moment somehow, I felt I was no longer Prosenjit, the disabled man. I was just a man, moving my body from point A to point B. But as in my case of MS, the scorching Sun increased my spasticity several folds along with increase in paresis.
The first attempt was unsuccessful. Then I humbly requested a passerby for help. This person kept his bags on the side and rushed to help me along with the E Rickshaw driver.
With a great, guttural yell of effort, I pushed. It was a clumsy, ungraceful heave. My body swung out of the motorised tricycle, suspended for a couple of terrifying seconds between the tricycle seat and the E-rickshaw's front seat and I landed hard, the impact jarring my spine. But I WAS IN. Sitting on the front seat of the E rickshaw.
I felt a surge of raw, triumphant adrenaline. I had crossed the chasm.
Now, for the next step. The two persons put my motorised tricycle on the back sitting cabin of the E Rickshaw.
As the E Rickshaw moved, towards my home, I felt immense sense of relief and satisfaction. I felt an enormous sense of achievement when I reached home with everything intact.
This particular event in my life has taken my confidence several notches up with the feeling that I will be able to carry my life forward even though I can neither stand nor walk.