19 January 2009
Mumbai, India
Anahita Mukherji
{jumi usermod/ads/ads.php}{/jumi} It was difficult to miss Ketna Mehta, 46, as she sped down the 2.5km stretch of road at CST during the wheelchair race for the Mumbai Marathon, especially since the man pushing her chair was actor Arjun Rampal. Mehta is the chairperson of Nina Foundation, which helps rehabilitate people with spinal cord injuries. Rampal and his wife Mehr Jessia, pushed a wheelchair each for the foundation.
“I think Rampal’s a real athlete. He managed to race down the road while pushing my chair, even with my nephew sitting on my lap,” grinned Mehta. Over a decade ago, she suffered a spinal injury after a paragliding accident that left her paralysed.
Around 30 people with spinal cord injuries from the foundation participated in the race. One of them, Subramanium, 40, was paralysed after a car accident in Saudi Arabia eight years ago, where he had recently got a job in a refinery. He remained housebound for several years. The marathon proved to be the turning point in his life.
The first time he stepped out of the house was for the wheelchair race during the marathon three years ago. Not only has he participated in the race ever since, but he now goes out of the house regularly. He got to know of the event through the foundation, which arranged a vehicle for him. On Sunday, he was flanked by his wife Mahalaxmi and 10–year–old daughter Kritika. “My daughter was running with me initially, but now she’s running with Arjun Rampal,” joked her dad.
For some, the vehicle they used to travel in was the same one they used for the race. Like Anil Kumar, 29, a paanwala without any legs who has set shop outside CST station. His paan shop consists of a tricycle with a box attached to it, which helps him get from one place to another. It’s this same tricycle, decorated with balloons, that he used during the marathon. He has been in the race the past three years.
Delhi–based Rajiv Virat, 27, was participating in the event for the second year. He represented the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society of India and won the first bronze medal for India in the lawn–tennis–onwheelchair event at the Malaysian Open in October.
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“I refused to let the disability break my spirit,” says Virat.
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