This Noida rickshaw-puller lost his arm but not hope

He looks no different from the scores of rickshaw pullers who wait outside the glass-facade buildings in Noida's Film City -- until he starts pedalling and you notice that under his-rolled up sleeves, there is no right arm.

But that doesn't bother Mohammed Islam even a bit as he uses his one good arm to steer through the chaotic traffic that leads to Sector 16 metro station.

"I have never met with an accident since I began pedalling a cycle rickshaw", he says reassuringly as he a negotiates a sharp bend in the road.

The 42-year-old from Jamuniyapur Tulsipur village in Bihar's Bhagalpur district has been doing this over the last 26 years.

Islam lost his right arm in 1985 while he was working as a farm help in his native village. He had gone to shoo away a horse that strayed onto his land, when the animal kicked him hard with its hind leg.

Writhing in pain, he was rushed to a local hospital where the doctor operated on the wrong arm. After a few days, when the pain refused to subside, he was taken to the same hospital where they found the doctor had already fled the place fearing the wrath of the villagers.

When the skin on his arm turned black, doctors at the district hospital said his arm would have to be amputated to prevent infection spreading to other parts of his body.

After losing his arm, Islam did not give up. He moved to Chandigarh in 1989 and plied a cycle rickshaw for more than 22 years, before moving to Noida in 2012.

"The government gives me a Rs 300 monthly pension, but it is not enough for anything. I make Rs 5000-6000 per month by plying the rickshaw, which I send to my wife and children through the Pradhan Mantri's Jan Dhan Yojana account," he says.

In Noida, Islam used a rented rickshaw until a woman passenger helped him buy one for a subsidised amount of Rs 2000, against its original price of Rs 7000.

Asked if any other passenger offered him help, he said, "Many passengers offer help but they never follow up. I need a job to take care of my family."

As he collected the fare, Islam added, "Till the time my body has strength, I won’t give up. If a person loses hope, there is nothing left."

Then, his eyes steeled as he rushed to join the other rickshaw pullers queuing for commuters outside the metro station.