That Accident Took My Leg, But Not My Spirit.

“Years ago, I met with a terrible accident. That accident not only damaged me, but it took away something from me. I still remember sitting in the hospital, watching my parents sob and cry aloud, the moment I looked down, I saw that my one leg was cut off. 

Due to that accident, I lost all the courage to live. I remember lying there, in pain, crying, even after getting back from the hospital, my life thinking, is this how my story ends? But something inside me said no. My body may have broken, but my will to live… to fight… grew even stronger.

I survived. But I didn’t just come back to live, I came back to give.

As I sat outside each day, healing, I would watch little children barefoot, hungry begging, or doing odd jobs. Some were as young as five. Some were girls forced to marry before they even learned to spell their own name. I couldn’t bear it. I knew what being broken felt like… and I couldn’t watch their dreams break the same way.

So I started with what I had: a small room, a few tattered books, and a dream. I became their teacher. Not with a degree, but with determination.

They say I’m a “guru” now. But I don’t want to be called a hero. I’m just a man trying to make sure that no child has to choose between hunger and hope.

When a little girl walks into my class for the first time shy, scared, in torn clothes my eyes fill with tears. Because I know the world never gave her a chance. Her parents said, “She’s a girl, what’s the point of teaching her?” But I say if a girl studies, she lifts her entire family out of darkness.

I fight every day against poverty, mindsets, and systems. I knock on doors, I beg parents, I convince them not to marry their daughters off at 13. I tell them—“Let her study, let her dream.”

And when that same girl later looks at me and says, “Sir, I want to become a teacher like you,” I forget all my pain. That’s when I know I didn’t lose my leg for nothing.

Teacher’s Day is coming up. For most, it’s just a date. For me, it’s everything.
Because every child I teach is a part of me. Every lesson I give is a piece of my soul.

People think I teach maths or English. But now I teach belief. I teach dignity. I teach them to never bow down to their circumstances.

My dream? A permanent school is a safe place where no girl fears being pulled out for marriage, where no boy is forced to beg for food instead of learning.

They took away my leg… but in return, these children gave me back my life. And this Teacher’s Day, I want the world to know Guru banne ke liye degree nahi, dil chahiye.

If you really want to celebrate this day, don’t buy flowers for a teacher. Educate a child. Change a life. Donate to this cause.