Kanika Das takes a class in Bakharpur High School. Picture by Ramen Mondal

Balurghat, Dec. 2: When two-year-old Kanika Das lost her hands after she came too near a moving train while playing along the tracks, her parents were at a loss. They thought she was disabled for life.

Twenty-six years later, Phani Bhusan and Bharati announce proudly that Kanika is a teacher of Bakharpur High School, where she got the job after qualifying in the SSC examinations. The disability remains, only that now it no longer seems a burden.

Kanika joined the school, 50km from here, in November last year. She stays at Bhikahar, 8km from her school, with her parents. Kanika takes an auto-rickshaw to commute to and from the institution.

Das was posted at Sahaja station in the Katihar railway division as a clerical staff member when the accident took place. Kanika had followed her two elder brothers Gautam and Siddhartha out of the house, unknown to her parents and siblings. A local train went over her arms when she came too near the tracks. They had to be amputated.

From then on, Bharati always kept a sharp lookout on Kanika’s limb movement. “When she was about seven years old, I told her to pick up a coin lying on the floor and she did it. I realised then that she would be able to study and we admitted her to a school,” Bharati said.

Kanika’s schooling was at Samsi in Malda district. From there, she passed her secondary and higher secondary examinations and graduated with Sanskrit from Samsi College in 2003.

Although she did not do her MA or BEd, she decided to take the School Service Commission (SSC) exams and got through after three attempts. “When she first walked into the school all of us were apprehensive about her abilities. But she promptly wrote down her joining report and then went to take a class. She also used the blackboard,” recounted Shiben Acharya, who was then the teacher-in-charge.

The current teacher-in-charge, Osimuddin Sarkar, said Kanika was very popular with her colleagues and students. “We have six physically-challenged students in our school and all of them draw inspiration from her,” Sarkar said.

For Kanika, disability lies in the mind. “On the eve of World Disability Day, the only message for all special people is that: get rid of the mental disability. If you have the strength to fight, you can succeed,” Kanika said. She said every time her siblings tried to help her, she refused them and tried to do tasks on her own.