INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Manasi Joshi had just begun a career as a software engineer, when what should have been a routine commute to work ended in a tragic
But this moment of horror changed her life in a surprisingly positive way.It was December 2011 and, for 22-year-old Manasi Joshi, a normal
Friday morning.She had recently graduated and just started her first job as a software engineer in the hectic Indian metropolis of
Mumbai.The house where she lived with her parents was barely 7km (4 miles) from her office, so Manasi would commute to work by motorbike.But
that Friday, barely 10 minutes into her journey, disaster struck - as she took a U-turn under a flyover, a lorry travelling in the wrong
direction ran over her leg."I was still conscious after it happened
I managed to sit up and take my helmet off
I immediately knew my injuries were serious," she says.People rushed to the spot but no-one really knew what to do."Indians are helpful by
nature but they are not very skilled, especially in emergency situations," Manasi says with a wry smile.After waiting in vain for an
ambulance, police lifted her on to a "rickety" stretcher and took her to a nearby hospital.However, it was ill-equipped to deal with the
injuries to one of her hands, and to her left leg - which was completely crushed
There was no surgeon, and not even an ambulance to take her to a larger hospital."I was so frustrated
I had lost so much blood, and I was losing time," she says.The hospital's ambulance, when it arrived a full two hours later, turned out to
be a dilapidated van - a far cry from the "state-of-the-art" vehicle that had been promised
Her 10-12km journey to the hospital where she would finally be treated was torturous, every bump, every pothole, only increasing her
agony.
It was only at 17:30 that evening that Manasi received proper medical care - about nine hours after her accident.
Doctors made
saving her leg a priority
She was in hospital for 45 days, going into surgery every five to 10 days
But eventually gangrene set in and the medical team had to concede defeat
There was no choice but to amputate her leg.
BeforeWhen she was growing up, studies were always the priority in the Joshi household
Manasi's father was a government scientist at Mumbai's prestigious Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and was determined that his children should
also do well academically
That is how she ended up pursuing computer science and becoming a software engineer.
But Manasi was also one of those children who took
part in all sorts of extracurricular activities.
"I played many sports like football, basketball and even volleyball
And it was not just sports
I was also exposed to music, singing, art you know how parents want their kids to be exposed to lots of activities," she says.
Badminton
Manasi's father was her first coach - when she was barely six, he had taught her how to hold a racket and hit a shuttle.
So after her
injury, she returned to the sport as part of her rehabilitation.
AfterIn August 2019 in Basel, Switzerland, Manasi created history.
In the
eight years since her horrific accident, she had begun seriously pursuing para-badminton, made it on to India's national team, and was now
representing the country at the finals of the World Championships.
The final was against defending champion and fellow Indian Parul Parma
Manasi had never won a match against her
But this time, she was confident.
"I was very fit, I was very quick on court, and my hand, my strokes, everything had its own clarity," she
says.
As the match progressed, Manasi began to surge ahead of Parma, dominating the game
The last set was a decimation - she won 13 points in a row, and suddenly, seemingly just like that, she was a World Champion.
Image
captionManasi keeps some of her favourite medals at her home in Hyderabad - the rest are with her parentsBut how did she make the journey
from amputee to para-athlete?
When she describes the days immediately after her accident, Manasi does not look back on them with any real
Instead, she recounts how her college friends and colleagues flocked to her bedside making her hospital room "the coolest hang-out spot",
how the intensive care nurses became her friends, and how an anaesthetist paid her a visit to boost her morale, after being touched by her
plight in the operating theatre.
"Trust me, there was not even a single point where I felt something very bad has happened to me
I'll say the worst I felt was when I came home and I looked at myself in mirror and said, 'Oh yeah this doesn't look good!' But then after a
few days I felt 'It's OK, it's just a scar it's just a leg.'"
Badminton began as part of a process of rehabilitation to help her walk again
with a prosthetic limb, but she began to show exceptional skill
One day she caught the eye of a fellow para-badminton player, who saw her defeat able-bodied competitors at a corporate tournament
He encouraged her to try out for the Indian team, which led eventually to her getting called up
to take part in a tournament in
Spain.
Although she didn't win, she did, for the first time, feel the "transformational power" of the sport.
Image captionBadminton was an
old friend for Manasi, but she only played it as a hobbyHere were people, some with injuries far more severe than Manasi's, out on the
court, playing what she calls "flawless" badminton.
"And they were so kind and generous
They actually came up to me and thanked me for choosing the sport! That was part of the reason I decided to take this up full-time," she
says.
It was a chance meeting with legendary Indian coach Pullela Gopichand that truly transformed her career
A former international champion, Gopichand is the man behind India's recent dominance on the world badminton stage - he's coach to world
champions like PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal.
She was working at a bank in the western city of Ahmedabad when Mr Gopichand paid a visit - and
she went straight up to him to ask if he would train her.
This story is the third in a series on moments that drastically altered Indian
livesYou can listen to Manasi Joshi's story on Outlook, on the BBC World Service - click here for transmission times, or to catch up
onlineDownload the Outlook podcastMr Gopichand laughs when I ask him about his reaction.
"She looked like quite a brave girl, her story was
very inspiring, I said, 'OK we will look into it,'" he says.
But training a para-athlete was a new challenge
Gopichand scrutinised videos of matches, and even practised playing while limping on one leg to try and get a sense of what it was like for
Then, along with his coaching staff, he designed a training schedule for Manasi, who he describes as "very focused and gritty".
It was
those qualities that got her to the World Championship and the pinnacle of her sport.
Image captionManasi trains in Hyderabad at the
prestigious Pullela Gopichand badminton academyWhen I meet Manasi, she is in the middle of an intense training session with her coach, Hari,
at the prestigious Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in the southern city of Hyderabad.
As I watch her play, I can tell that I am
witnessing something very special.
It is not just the fact that the lithe, athletic woman on the court is wearing a prosthetic leg
She also returns a flurry of increasingly tricky shots, smashing and volleying with ease.
Afterwards, it becomes evident that Manasi's
victory in Basel has turned her into a celebrity.
"Everything has changed
People are recognising me in the streets," she says, laughing.
I travel home with her, and as we enter her apartment complex, a young man
stops his motorcycle and, with the engine still running, he hurries after her to ask for a selfie.
Her apartment is filled with mementoes
and gifts she has received from fans and there are stacks of greeting cards in the hall.
She shows me a large handmade poster pasted on her
It has drawings of shuttlecocks and badminton rackets on it, along with the words "Congratulations Manasi Joshi aunty" written in different
coloured crayons.
"This was the sweetest gesture
Even before I came back, my win was all over social media
So the kids of the building pasted this poster right on our front door
I wasn't there so my flatmates took it and pasted it on my bedroom door," she says.
Inside her bedroom, Manasi shows me some of her
medals.
There is, of course, the glittering gold World Championship medal
But she says her favourite is a Bronze she won at the Asian games
It has text in Braille and makes a jingling sound when you shake it
She says the amount of particles in each medal differs between Gold, Silver and Bronze, so that each medal makes a different sound
This allows visually impaired athletes to immediately identify what they are holding.
"That is the inclusive design or society I wish to
Where we consider everybody even when we give out trophies," she says.
Now, Manasi has set her sights on her next goal - getting chosen for
the Paralympics in Tokyo.
She won the World Championship playing singles, but there is no singles event in her disability division at the
paralympics, so she hopes to compete by playing doubles instead.
Playing doubles may be new to her, but the one thing she has demonstrated
is the ability to excel in unfamiliar situations.
