In a country that has little time for sports other than cricket and a stark paucity of any kind of empathy for the differently-abled, Aditya Mehta is making a difference one championship at a time. He is a medal winning cyclist whose leg was amputated above the knee and who turned this terrible misfortune into a challenge and a chance to better the lot of others.
Turning misfortune into opportunity
He was on a motorcycle when he met with an accident and a bus crushed his leg under its tyre. After agonizingly painful days in the hospital, it was decided that Aditya’s right leg had to be amputated above the knee. Finding it impossible to continue the flourishing textile business he had built up, he had to shut it down.
When he was fitted with a prosthetic limb it took him months to learn to walk on it. His father helped him by telling him that to learn to walk anew, he had to learn to think like a child learning to walk… simply get up and try again when you fall. Soon Aditya was walking up to 10 km comfortably using his prosthetic limb.
Leg was amputated above the knee
One day the hoarding of a local cycling club sharply reminded him of his limitations but conversely spurred him to relearn cycling just as he had learnt to walk again. He fell 5 times the first time he rode a kilometre, but “Every fall made me stronger. I learnt from every fall. I just kept going. I never stopped”
The achievements of Aditya Mehta the champion cyclist
Continued to win medals
He tried for the Limca Records and became the first amputee to cycle 100 km in five and a half hours. An accident where his prosthetic limb came off by getting stuck in the spokes of the wheel at a 40 kmph speed did not deter him. An injury to the tailbone notwithstanding, Aditya won double silver medals at the Asian cycling championship in Delhi. Aditya has also ridden from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and has also traversed the 17,582 feet, Khardung La top, the world’s highest motorable road.
Paving the way for other para athletes
With IPS Officer Akun Sabharwal
He recently completed a cycling trip of 1,450 from Delhi to Mumbai. This was his attempt to raise funds for other para athletes who don’t have the money or the facilities for training or sporting equipment. He wants to raise awareness for these unsung heroes of Indian sports, many of whom don’t receive any help with their efforts or any recognition for their achievements. He also wants to be able to help paramilitary and police personnel who lose limbs in the line of duty. The Aditya Mehta Foundation raises funds to provide prosthetic limbs, sporting facilities and other resources to amputees and para athletes.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
