Brave Hearts

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

Page 82

Sweet Are The Uses of Adversity It was the second calamity which completely shattered Pavitran mentally. His wife died suddenly, leaving behind two little children in the care of the father. Pavitran was now a shattered man.
When he reported for duty in his EME unit, he was declared unfit to work as a technician. All his efforts at persuasion fell on the deaf ears of his superiors. He felt desolated.
But Pavitran was made of stronger stuff and not the kind to lose heart even in the face of such calamities. He made a firm resolve that he would prove to the whole world that he was not a ‘limping horse.'
He bought an artificial leg and got it fitted with the help from medical technicians. He then started practicing to walk little by little. By this time, he came across a news item announcing a cycle rally between Pune and Kanyakumari passing through 21 states of the country and covering a distance of 24,000 km. leading competitors was to participate from all over the country. The distance to be covered was vast and not one of the participants was confident of completing it.
Pavitran decided to enter the fray. After all, once upon a time he too was a soldier and he had not lost his inner strength. Many of his relatives and friends tried to dissuade him from participating in such a long rally and that too with an artificial foot. A few of them laughed it off as a big joke while others called it an attempt to build castles in the air. But Pavitran remained firm in his resolve.
But mere determination, howsoever strong it may have been, would not be enough on its own. Pavitran had to have a specially designed and manufactured bicycle for the race, and this entailed fairly large expenditure. When he approached a
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